Family Reunion 2
by Michael The-Zorch Haney
Summary: Complete! Tenchi goes to Nerima to attend college when a newComplete enemy arrives to threaten the world.
1. Part 1: Homecoming

DISCLAIMER: "Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki" is a registered trademark and copyright of AIC Inc. and Pioneer. "Ranma 1/2" is a registered trademark and copyright of Rumiko Takahashi, Viz Communications and Kitty Productions.  
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T E N C H I 1 / 2: FAMILY REUNION II  
  
By Michael "TheZorch" Haney  
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Prologue  
  
A dark figure ran through the streets of Nerima just before dawn. He darted about keeping to the shadows as much as possible. Hikaru Gosunkugi did not want to be noticed. Under his arm he protected something wrapped up in paper and bound by string. It had taken him months to research the whereabouts of this particular item, and it had taken him nearly that long to come up with the funds he needed to get his hands on it. Gosunkugi recognized the outline of his home and bounded up through his bedroom window, as he did so he slipped and fell flat on his face. He sat up and nursed the hug bump on his head and was relieved his package was unbroken.  
Gosunkugi went to his desk, flipped on his reading light, and began nervously unwrapping his package. He stared down at the item in question, a puzzle box. It was square in shape with intricate carvings all around it on each of its sides. Slowly Hikaru began tracing the outlines of the markings on the top of the cube has the old tomes he had instructed. The box began to move! It changed shaped, unfolding and linking with other parts of itself as it morphed into a new shape. When the shifting of parts and pieces was done the box was now a six sided cone with an opening in its apex. Gosunkugi leaned over the newly created object and peered into the dark opening. He could just make out something. What is in there?, he asked himself. His eyes caught movement, perhaps the object was still reshaping itself, but suddenly what was inside came out. Gosunkugi grabbed his eye and squealed in pain. It felt as if a red hot poker had been jabbed into his eye, and it was traveling through his head. Soon the hot pain went into his head and Hikaru could feel his mind being....consumed.  
"I'M SO SCREWED, I'M SO SCREWED, I'M SO SCREW!!!!" he cried as he reached for the ancient tome that told him about the box. He didn't have time to open it, an intense burst of agony washed through Gosunkugi's brain, his vision blurred, the room around him swirled about as if caught in a whirlwind. Suddenly, there was nothing.  
Gosunkugi stood up and looked around at his surroundings, but it wasn't Gosunkugi anymore. He pondered at the many unique things he saw and did not understand many of the functions of many of the things he saw, but the memories of his young one were available to him to use. Soon he would become acclimated to this new body, and this strange new world. The person who had once been Hikaru Gosunkugi recognized the many books of magic on the book shelf and smiled an evil grin. He walked through the room and looked up at the dresser mirror seeing himself for the first time.  
"Not my first choice for a new body, but this is a start." He said out loud.  
The boy Gosunkugi, who was not Gosunkugi, reached into that part of his mind where the memories of the boy were kept. Nothing remained of the young man that once was but his memories, all else was gone. The new resident inside of Gosunkugi looked into the most recent memories, the purchase of the item, Fureinken High School, and many other interesting memories.  
"A strange place, this Nerima." The thing inside Gosunkugi scratched his chin. "But then so was Josenkyo, back then." The Gosunkugi thing decided to masquerade as this young man for a while get a feel for this strange new world. The sounds from outside the open bedroom window were very alien to his ears. That sound must be what the boy's memory says is an automobile, a horseless means of transportation., he though as he heard a car go by.  
"Hikaru, breakfast is ready, hurry or you'll be late for school!"  
The Gosunkugi turned his head to the bedroom door at the sound of the woman on the other side. The mother of the boy. The thing smiled, a wicked smile that was very out of place on Gosunkugi's face. "Yes, mother, coming!"  
He dressed in what the boy's memories said was a boy's school uniform, and went out to eat his first meal in centuries. The Gosunkugi thing finished eating and left the house in silence then looked down the thoroughfare of his neighborhood with awe. Such wonders this new world beholds., he thought.  
Determined to learn more about this strange new age, the boy once know as Hikaru Gosunkugi walked towards Fureinken High School, but within his mind now resided a new resident. Kun Lao relished his new found freedom, seeing this as his second chance to achieve that which was stolen from him. The ultimate goal, to become a god.  
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PART 1: Homecoming!  
  
It was already just two days after the return from the Masaki residence in Ohkayama, when the chaos that seemed to follow Ranma Saotome, Second Prince of Jurai, showed its ugly head. Ranma was chasing one source of that chaos through the streets of Nerima, a peaceful prefecture in the city of Tokyo. Well, almost peaceful.  
"EEEEEEK! IT'S THE PANTY THIEF!!!!"  
"Get back here you wrinkled up old pervert!" Ranma huffed and puffed as he ran, he could easily catch up to the old fool now thanks to his Juraian training with his grandfather Katsuhito and his cousin Tenchi. The young Saotome didn't want anyone to know about his new abilities yet. He had this sinking feeling that he was being watched, so revealing what he could 'really' do might not be a good idea right now.  
A swift drop kick sent the diminutive old pervert into a tailspin before plopping onto the ground. The Saotome youth almost lazily tossed the bag of undergarments towards the on rushing horde of enraged girls. Ranma snatched Happosai up, looked at him eye to eye, and yelled, "What is with you, didn't you learn your lesson back in Ohkayama?!"  
"HAPPO FIRE BURST!" The old man produced a large round bomb from out of nowhere and shoved it down the front of Ranma's shirt.  
"Why you little son of AAAHHHHH-" BOOM!!! The girls chasing Happosai watched the explosion and skidded to a halt. When the smoke and flames cleared they saw a young man wearing the remains of what had been a Japanese tunic. Now the front of it was burned away revealing his wash board stomach and bulging pectorals. Sparkles of total rhapsody formed in their eyes, they'd never seen such a gorgeous hunk before.  
The old freak appeared with a nasty grin on his face as he produced a large bucket and dropped the entire contents on the dazed youth. Ranma slowly came out of his stupor and felt something very strange. "She" looked down at herself only to see the diminutive pervert, martial artist playfully groping her ample attributes with a stupid grin on his face.  
"GGGGGAAAARRRRRGGGHHHHHH!!!!! STOP FEELING ME UP YOU PERVERT, I'M A GUY!!!!" Akane Tendo sat in the dining room with Ukyo Kuonji and Shampoo. News of what happened between them and Ranma had not been shared with anyone else in Nerima. There was a good reason for this, Ranma, or more accurately, Ranma's enemies. After spending most of the summer together, the three one time rivals and fiancés of Ranma Saotome were getting along like good friends. Right now they were enjoying a bit of tea and crackers when they heard the loud scream in the distance.  
  
"Geeze, that old goat just doesn't learn does he." Ukyo sighed and sipped her tea.  
"It's only been two days since we got home." Akane paused to say before munching on a cracker.  
"Shampoo thought strange pink haired girl teach old pervert lesson." Shampoo sighed as she refilled her cup.  
"Yeah, so did I." Replied Akane.  
The sound of running feet outside suddenly drifted in through the shoji doors. The voices of young men yelling out and whistling cat calls issued in the air as Happosai bounded into the room followed by a topless, and enraged Ranma-chan.  
"That was the last straw, I'm gonna rip you limb from limb you old freak!" Ranma-chan screamed as she chased the diminutive pervert around the room. The old man just giggled and laughed the whole time taking enjoyment at seeing Ranma-chan's breasts bouncing up and down as she ran.  
"Ranma stop!" Akane called out.  
"Ranma honey, what happen?!" Ukyo asked noting Ranma's lack of covering.  
"Aiya!" Shampoo exclaimed as she ducked under the two as they leapt over the dinning table.  
"The old fiend destroyed by favorite shirt with those damn bombs of his, and while I was dazed he splashed me and felt me up! IN THE MIDDLE OF THE STREET!" Ranma-chan yelled pointing at the old man.  
A wicked gleam came to the eyes of the three women suddenly making Happosai gasp with terror. "NOBODY FONDLES RANMA EXCEPT US!!!!!!" the three cried as their combined kicks and giant spatula attack sent the old fool into high-Earth-orbit.  
Ukyo went to the kitchen, grabbed the hot water kettle Kasumi kept ready for just such emergencies, and upended it over Ranma's head. Back to his normal self again, Ranma sighed and sat down at the table. "Man, if I didn't know any better I'd say that old freak has gotten worse since Ohkayama." He said. There was no reply. Ranma looked at the girls and noticed the dreamy expressions on their faces as they looked at him. He suddenly remembered something, looked down at his bare chest, and blushed profusely.  
"Maybe I should go get another shirt." He said as he started to get up.  
"What's your hurry, Ranma honey?" Ukyo asked dreamily.  
"Aiya. Shampoo like scenery." Shampoo cooed.  
"Ummm, very nice." Akane sighed.  
Ranma's face turned a bright candy apple red, a few shades brighter than before. "Geeze, you three are almost as bad as he is!"  
Akane smirked at him playfully. "Why are you being so modest? You weren't shy in Washu lab that day."  
"I didn't hear you complaining. You 'were' screaming though, but it wasn't because you were mad." Ranma replied delighting at the sudden, deep blush on Akane's face.  
  
Nabiki came into the room, looked at the scene before her. Her eyes fell on Ranma and she struggled with all of her might to suppress the urge to just stare at him and drool. Though she had the reputation as the Ice Queen, Nabiki Tendo did have feelings. She was a girl after all. It was just she never realized how good Ranma looked. She shook her head. Did I just think that?, she asked herself.  
"Hey Ranma, is my little sister in heat again?" she asked with a smirk.  
"Nabiki!" Akane groaned in embarrassment as Ukyo and Shampoo both giggled girlishly.  
"Say, when are Mr. Saotome and Mr. Tendo coming back?" Ukyo asked. Nabiki shrugged her shoulders. "Who knows."  
"They've been gone all day, and we haven't been to the Cat Café to talk to Cologne yet." Said Ranma.  
"Great grandmother probably worried sick for Shampoo." Shampoo frowned worriedly.  
"Where's Kasumi?" asked Ukyo. Nabiki leaned against the wall and stabbed her thumb towards the shoji doors. "Where else since we came home, she's been staring at that statue all day."  
Ranma and the girls turned and looked out beyond the koi pond where the statue Mr. Tendo bought was standing. Unwrapped and mounted on a marble pedestal, the statue was an uncannily lifelike carving of a samurai warrior standing in a regal pose. Kasumi stood in front of it looking up into the face of the warrior. If the statue was a depiction of someone who had once been real he was certainly very handsome, Akane noted.  
"That thing gives me the creeps." Said Ranma.  
"Why do Kasumi stare at statue?" asked Shampoo.  
"I don't know, but when she does she has this far away expression on her face. It's almost like she's longing for something." Replied Akane.  
"I though she and Dr. Tofu were an item." Said Ranma.  
"I know Kasumi is a little flighty sometimes sugar, but I don't think she'd get the hots for a statue." Ukyo retorted.  
The eldest Tendo sister leaned down, finished watering the flowers at the base of the statue and went back into the house as if nothing had happened to her. "Weird." Ranma whispered looking at the statue.  
"Well, I can't wait for pops and Mr. Tendo to get back." Ranma picked himself off the floor and headed for the stairs. "I'm gonna go take a bath and then you and me, Shampoo, can go to the Cat Café and talk to Granny."  
"Shampoo be waiting." The Chinese Amazon smiled and waved as Ranma disappeared.  
  
Ranma went to his room and picked up another set of clothes to wear and headed for the bath. He went into the changing room, stripped down, and went into the bath. The furo was filled with warm, steaming water already. Ranma picked up the wash tub, filled it with cold water, and up ended it over his head. She looked at herself in the body length mirror on the wall.  
"Geeze, turning into a girl is ok I guess, but do I have to be so damn cute though." she mumbled. Her gorgeous female form had been the cause of some trouble in the past, but Ranma had come to grips with his problem, only grudgingly. She shifted back to a 'he' when Ranma eased down into the hot water. It was relaxing, but at the same time the Saotome youth wished it was like the onsen back at Tenchi's place.  
In his musings Ranma didn't notice the sound of the door sliding open to the bathroom and the soft padding of bare feet on the tile floor. "Want me to wash your back, Ranma honey?"  
Ranma nearly flew to the ceiling and sent a shower of water streaming around the room. He relaxed a little when he noticed it was just Ukyo. He would have felt very nervous at any other time if it had been anyone else. This was one of the things he had to get used to, after all he was engaged to three girls and intended to marry all of them!  
"Sure."   
"I have to do one thing first." Ukyo replied with a smile. She stood up into view giving Ranma a shock. She was undressed and wearing only a pair of panties and her trademark chest wrap. She produced a pair scissors and proceeded to cut the chest wrap off of her body.  
"From this day forward, I no longer denounce my femininity!" Ukyo proclaimed as the remains of the wrap fell at her feet. Without the wrapping the girl's breasts fell out to full size.  
"Ukyo..."   
"I love you, Ranma honey, and for you I reclaim my womanhood." She replied with a blush on her face. She knew where his eyes were looking. Ukyo slipped out of her panties, picked up a bath sponge and climbed into the furo. For a moment Ranma wasn't sure what to do, it didn't take him long to snap out of it though. He glided over to her, wrapped his arms around Ukyo and pressed his lips to hers in a passionate kiss. Ukyo's body shuttered with pleasure at the kiss and feeling of her body next to the man she loved. When they parted Ranma offered her his back. Smiling with intense joy on her face, Ukyo scrubbed Ranma's back, an act of respect, trust, and most of all love.  
"Ukyo, I love you."  
"I love you, Ranma honey."   
Instincts took over. Ranma turned around and pulled Ukyo into an embrace. She sighed and her body shivers as Ranma's hands touched her back. The 'cute' fiancé leaned back her head and pressed her lips to Ranma's. Electricity shot through the young man and he pulled Ukyo closer, deepening the kiss and putting more force into it. When their lips parted Ukyo was panting for breath quickly, her heart was fluttering, she knew what she wanted but wasn't sure if Ranma was ready. She looked into his eyes with the strongest expression of longing she could muster.  
"Are you sure?" he whispered. Ukyo nodded.  
  
Nabiki strolled by the bathroom door and stopped when she heard a sound. She leaned in close and cupped her ear. The noises she heard from inside made her face blush a deep red. "Gee, Ranma at the rate you're going you'll have them all pregnant before school is over." She sighed. As she made her way to her bedroom a sudden vision came to her mind. Nabiki was on her back, naked. Sweat poured from her skin like a torrential rainfall as her body was entwined with Ranma's in the positions of the Kama Sutra. Nabiki slapped herself in the face and staggered a bit. That vision was pretty...vivid. She's been having them for a while now. As she opened the door to her room she stopped and gasped in shock. Oh no, oh hell no, I am 'not' falling in love with Ranma, no way in freaking hell, no way Jose!, her brain screamed.  
The middle Tendo sister went to her desk and pulled out her ledger. Working on the family budget would probably help her keep her mind off of the subject. She had to work on the family finances anyway with what was happening. The idea was for Ukyo and Shampoo to move into the Tendo home. It was her father's idea, but Nabiki wondered how much of it was due to Ukyo and Shampoo's coercion. The two new additions would put a strain on the already stretched budget, luckily however Ukyo ran a business that did pretty well, and Shampoo had no trouble making money at the Cat Café. Nabiki was sure they'd contribute to the family budget for food and expenses. With Ranma and Akane getting along better now, actually 'way' batter, the repair bills for the house should level off or disappear altogether.  
  
Ukyo was happier than she had ever been in her life. She just made love with the man she loved. She sighed and leaned her head on Ranma's chest. She knew she was the last of the three girls to have him, it didn't bother her to be the last one. Ukyo helped Ranma finish his bath, delighting in every minute of it. She thoroughly enjoyed it when he helped her, the feeling of his hands on body sent delicious sensations through her. Oh, I am going love living here., she said to herself. When the two came down the stairs Akane and Shampoo didn't fail to notice the bright, glowing expression on Ukyo's face. Akane gave Ranma a look that told him that next time she was going to be there.  
Ranma noticed over the past few days the change in the girls. They had become so much more amorous towards him. Shampoo had always been touchy feely towards him, but Ukyo and Akane were more subtle. Well, up until a week ago they were. Now whenever they looked at him it was like being in the gaze of hungry wolves. The change didn't happen overnight, it was gradual as he developed his new powers and exercised the Jurai power. Ranma wasn't sure if that had anything to do with it, but just to be sure he made a mental note to himself to talk to Washu about it when she arrived later on that week to connect the house to her lab.  
  
The people of Nerima who knew them looked and stared in surprise at the sight of Ranma Saotome and Shampoo walking down the street. That wasn't unusual, they'd seen that many times, but back then they didn't have their arms around each other. Ranma noticed a few of his 'friends' from school, the same guys who would bet on how many drops of water it took to change him into a girl. Let them be confused., Ranma thought. He took some delight in this, it was likely going to cause some rumors to spread around school when classes started up. It was going to be his last year, and Ranma Saotome decided to go out with a loud bang.  
The Cat Café was open but there were only a very few customers in the place. It was midday and it wasn't usually busy until late in the afternoon when people got off work. When school was in session the place picked up a lot more. Ranma didn't recognize any of the patrons, but they did recognize Shampoo. The disappointed looks on their faces told him they were interested in her, and seeing her hanging off an obviously handsome young man shattered any chances they had of winning her over. As if they could. There were a few new faces in the café that Ranma remembered from the Amazon village in China. They were working as waitresses probably because of the absence of Mousse and Shampoo.  
Cologne was in the kitchen cooking ramen. One of the waitresses, a strikingly beautiful Amazon named Rouge tapped her on the shoulder and pointed towards the pair who just entered. The Amazon elder's eye brow did a Spock Maneuver when she saw them.  
"Well, son-in-law, I see you have finally come to your senses." The old woman said happily.  
Ranma didn't take his hand off of Shampoo's waist, he liked holding her. He had always liked her, thought she was really cute, but before he couldn't do this because of Akane. Now was a very different situation. "Hey, Granny, did you miss us?" Ranma asked. The old woman bounded out of the kitchen and balanced on her staff in front of the pair.  
"I had my suspicions of where Shampoo had gone for so long, welcome back." The old woman smiled. "Where is that lazy Mr. Part-Time?"  
"Mousse went on a trip, a journey of self-discovery you might say." Replied Ranma.  
Cologne seemed surprised at that. "Who would have thought that boy was capable of such contemplations, I am impressed I must admit."  
Shampoo walked out of Ranma's arm and headed for the back room. "Shampoo go to room to pack, Ranma talk to great grandmother." She said as she skipped away happily. Cologne watched her go then turned a curious eye towards Ranma. She could tell their relationship has changed, but she was confused about what was going on.  
"Shampoo will continue to work at the café, but she'll be living at the Tendo's." Ranma explained.  
"You have agreed to be Shampoo's husband then?" Cologne asked. Ranma nodded his head with a smile. "Excellent, then I can begin the preparations of our return to China." The elder Amazon cheered.  
"We aren't going to China." Ranma's voice was resolute.  
"You must, it is our law." Cologne said looking at him through squinting eyes. "If you intend to create a new tribe here in Japan you must take your request to the elder council in China and meet their challenge. It will not be easy."  
"Something has come up that changes everything, lets say." Explained Ranma. "It allows us to remain in Japan for now, and supercedes Amazon law." This made Cologne do another Spock Maneuver. She looked at him, concentrated on his chi. Ever since he entered the café Cologne sensed something different about Ranma. Now as she looked at his chi energies she suppressed a sudden gasp in surprise. His power levels appeared to have shot up dramatically from the last time. There was something else, a power she could not discern but she could see it, and it was more immense than anything she'd ever seen. What has happened to Ranma, he is now more powerful than even Saffron was., she said to herself. If Ranma had been this powerful before, she reasoned, the lad would have made short work of the evil deity.  
"I am curious to learn what this is, son-in-law." Cologne told him.  
"Well, come over for dinner at the Tendo home tomorrow night and we'll tell you all about it." Ranma offered. Shampoo came bounding into the café carrying a duffle bag under her arm.  
"Nihao! Shampoo get her clothes, there still more but need more time to get." Ranma took the bag, slung it over his shoulder. Shampoo leaned in and kissed her airen. Cologne watched them while observing every single detail of their actions. Ranma wasn't pushing Shampoo away, he was opening accepting her affections. That was clear when they walked in arm-in-arm. Why the sudden change though, before Ranma had gone out of his way to keep Shampoo off of him. Also, Shampoo was moving to the Tendo's house, if they were together wouldn't that be awkward for Akane. Cologne had to suppress her raging curiosity until tomorrow.  
"We go home now, Ranma got to take Ukyo to her place to get clothes." Shampoo said with a smile. Cologne could not suppress her reaction to this. The Kuonji girl, what did she have to do with all this?, she thought.  
"That's right, pops and Mr. Tendo might be back now with the two extra beds for you and her." Ranma said and looked at Cologne to note her reaction. He smiled when he saw the wide eyed expression of shock on the old woman's face.  
"Groom, what is happening?" Cologne asked. "Why is the Kuonji woman also moving into the Tendo home?"  
The pair turned and headed for the door. Ranma looked over his should at the elder Amazon and replied, "Come to dinner tomorrow about six o'clock and all will be revealed."  
Outside, Shampoo nudged Ranma in the ribs lightly. "Airen take too much pleasure in buzzing great grandmother's tower." She giggled. Ranma laughed. "After all the hell that old ghoul has put me through she deserves it." Shampoo snickered at that, she decided to ignore Ranma's old nickname for her great grandmother. Cologne has certainly done some things to Ranma in the past. The Cat's Tongue had been the worst.  
"Shampoo cannot blame Ranma for wanting some fun on great grandmother's expense." Shampoo smiled wryly.  
  
Back at the Tendo home a large furniture delivery truck sat out front. Ranma and Shampoo went into the yard and saw several large open boxes on the lawn. As they approached the shoji doors to the dining room a familiar pink haired young woman emerged from the house.  
"Hiya Ranma!" Washu exclaimed. "How's life treating ya?"  
"Little Washu, I didn't think you were coming until later this week." Ranma replied.  
The diminutive genius flashed the young Saotome a sheepish grin. "Well, I thought I'd come over early, besides from the look of things you could really use my help."  
Ranma looked around at the boxes, he wondered where they were going to put everything. The Tendo home wasn't that big. "Yeah, I guess."  
"Uh, is Tenchi with you?" Ranma asked in a hopeful tone.  
Washu stabbed her thumb behind her into the house. "He's helping your dad and Mr. Tendo put the girl's beds together."  
"Cool!" Ranma shouted and sprinted into the house at super speed making Washu's long hair flap in the wind. "Heh, youngsters." Washu smiled.  
"Aiya, Shampoo very happy to see Washu again." The Chinese Amazon smiled in greeting. "Nice to see you too Shampoo." Replied Washu.  
"YYYYYAAAAAHHHH!!!!!!" Ranma ran out of the house and hid behind Shampoo, quivering as if in terror. A small gray form emerged from the house and leapt up onto Washu's shoulder.  
"Ryu-Ohki, naughty girl, you scared poor Ranma again." Washu scolded the cabbit while trying to suppress a laugh.  
"Y-Y-You brought t-t-that c-c-cat with y-y-you!" Ranma exclaimed from hiding. "Of course, how else was I supposed to get here, fly on a broom." Washu snickered and folded her arms.  
"Miya!" Ryu-Ohki meowed in agreement.  
Shampoo sighed, reach behind her and patted Ranma on the head lovingly. "Lucky thing Shampoo order extra supply of waterproof soap."  
"Oh, speaking of that, I've been doing more study of this Josenkyo curse thing." Washu explained, winking one eye at the pair. "I'll be ready to do experiments on cursed test subjects within a few weeks. Lab animals first, of course."  
"That's great!" Ranma stood up quickly in joyful surprise.  
Washu waved her finger at him. "Now, now, remember this might not work, using science to mess with magic can be dangerous."  
"Besides, I'm only in the observation stage of my experiments." Washu went on. "I collected samples of Josenkyo water and tried it on different animal subjects to observe the curse in action. Very interesting study."  
"Well, if anyone can figure it out you can Washu-chan." Ranma smiled. He came out from behind Shampoo, but kept giving the cabbit the evil eye.  
The diminutive genius smiled and scratched her chin. "If only the 'others' had that much confidence in me." Right on cue Tenchi emerged from the house carrying out an old bed mattress.  
"Let me help you with that." Ranma said as he ran up and helped his cousin. "Thanks, cousin." Tenchi smiled.  
"You should see the changes Washu made upstairs." Tenchi said as they put the mattress with the boxes. "Oh?" Ranma said in curiosity.  
The Masaki youth lead his cousin into the house, at first he didn't notice any difference in the place. It wasn't apparent that anything was different until they went to the second floor. Suddenly, it looked as if the upper floor of the house was ten time larger than before. The house from the outside didn't seem to have changed, but the upper floor was much larger. The hallway looked like it ran off for miles.  
"What the-" Ranma gasped.  
"You like?" Washu asked as she came up the stairs with Shampoo behind her.  
Ranma pointed down the impossibly long hallway. "How did you?"  
"Same technique as my lab, only there isn't a doorway blocking the way between the house and this subspace pocket." Washu explained. "So, the whole things appears to be seamless when actually there is a separating barrier, but you can't notice it."  
  
Tenchi went to a door that looked liked it was once Akane's room. "This is the girl's room." He opened it and Ranma followed him inside. Akane and Ukyo were inside fitting bed clothes on the brand new beds. The two girls looked up and smiled happily at their fiancé. The bedroom was huge! There was enough room for the three girls, their clothes, personal belongings, and then some. That was not all that was there, a fully stocked area with beauty products and a huge mirror dominated one wall, a holographic video display hung in the air showing music videos from the American boy band N'Sync which Akane really liked, and there was an open archway that lead into what looked like a tropical jungle.  
"Holy molly." Ranma said, surprised.  
"Wait until you see your room." Washu smiled brightly.  
Ranma approached the door to a room with the sign "Ranma's Bachelor Pad". He looked back at Washu and she just beamed him mischievous smile. The looks Akane, Ukyo, and Shampoo all gave him said, "Its just called that by name, don't take to heart". He pushed open the door and found himself in a spacious teenage boys bedroom. For the first time in years he had a real bed, not the bed roll he slept on in the room he used to share with his father. There were a couple of dressers, a writing desk with something that looked like a computer, and what looked like two separate closets. Ranma went to the first closet and found all of his clothes there, all washed and pressed. The second closet was filled with all sorts of girl's clothes in the sizes his female form could wear.  
"What's this all about?" he asked Washu as he closed the closet door.  
"If you ever need to use your female form for something, at least you'll have clothes for her." Washu smiled. Ranma groaned, the girls giggled.  
There was also a similar archway like in the girl's room. Ranma walked up to it and looked inside. He smiled, it was an onsen similar to the one back in Ohkayama. This one was made to look like it was part of a small jungle cave with warm and cold water natural springs and a warm waterfall. Cool., he thought.  
Washu stepped out into the middle of the room and called up her translucent computer. "A teenaged boy's room wouldn't be complete without-" she announced as she typed in series of commands. "-girly posters!" The three girls gasped in sudden shock as large posters materialized on the walls. They all quickly relaxed after seeing them, but blushed a bit. Ranma grabbed his nose trying to prevent a nosebleed. The girls were all Akane, Ukyo and Shampoo in various poses with different styles of bikinis. He turned around looking at them all. One in particular caught his attention fast, it was of Shampoo facing away from the camera with her arms over her head. She wasn't wearing a top, the angle of her body showed enough of her front to get a good glimpse of her frontal attributes. Akane blushed so hard the others thought she'd start bleeding through her skin when she saw one of the posters of her. She was in a provocative pose on her knees in a one piece swimsuit, what turned her red was the obviously hungry, sexy expression on her face as she was slipping the top of the bikini off of her body. Talk about X rated posters!, she thought.  
"Shampoo no remember posing for these." Shampoo said.  
"Yeah, I don't remember taking them either." said Ukyo.  
"You don't approve, well, how about these instead." Washu snickers. The posters changed and the girls went into shock. Ranma was frozen as if in absolute terror. The girls bum rushed Ranma and covered his eyes.  
"You even so much as get a nose bleed and we'll kill you!" Akane warned him.  
The posters were now nearly half naked bikini shots of Kodachi Kuno, Miss. Honako in her adult form, Nabiki Tendo, Herb in female form, and nearly every other girl who has ever tried to steal Ranma away. Washu's sinister cackle filled the room making everyone's hair stand up on end.  
"This isn't funny!" Ukyo shouted.  
Washu giggled some more, tapped a few buttons, and the posters returned to what they had been before, but a few of the more provocative ones were replaced with martial arts movie scenes. "Can't a girl have fun?" Washu asked innocently.  
"NOT LIKE THAT YOU CAN"T!" the three girls shouted at once.  
"Sheesh! And you all call me a pervert." Came a voice from the doorway. Everyone's head snapped around to see the diminutive master of perversion himself in the flesh. Happosai. He looked around the room from the doorway, spotted an almost provocative poster of Akane and leaped towards it.  
"Hotcha! Akane in a string bikini!" he cried.  
Akane's face twitched at the thought of the old man wanting to look at her body, like that. Suddenly, a red light filled the room and a voice announced, "Warning, pervert alert! Warning, pervert alert! Anti-pervert defense system activated!" Happosai was almost to Akane's poster when it changed before his eyes. What he saw filled the old man with immense horror.  
"NNNNOOOOOOO!!!!!" the old letch screamed. He covered his eyes and raced from the room. The three girls looked around the room, all three doing Spock Maneuvers. The posters had suddenly changed to nude poses of Ranma in male form.  
"What the-" was all Ranma could get out in response.  
"Hey, Little Washu, could we get copies of those for our room?" Ukyo asked. Ranma face faltered, hard.  
"Shame on you, stop teasing Ranma." Tenchi said from the doorway.  
Washu turned towards him, shift to her full, very voluptuous, adult form and said in her deep, sultry voice, "Oh, you rather that I torture you my dear Tenchi? I didn't know you were into that sort of thing." The young Masaki grabbed his nose to stop the geyser of blood he knew was coming. The girls all giggled wildly and nearly fell to the floor. Ranma and Tenchi both issued loud groans, "We're doomed!"  
  
With everything done at the Tendo residence Ranma and the girls gave Tenchi and Washu hugs farewell and watched Ryo-Ohki soar off through the sky. A Short time later, Ukyo and Ranma hopped from roof-top to roof-top hand-in-hand heading for Ucchan's. Konatsu was happy to see Ukyo's return, but the disappointment in his face was evident when Ukyo explained things to him. Ranma sat at a table with her and Konatsu in the okonomiyaki restaurant.   
"You're moving?" Konatsu asked, the disappointment and heartbreak evident in his voice.  
"I'm moving from here, but I'm not leaving the business." Ukyo explained. "You demonstrated to me this summer you can handle thing on your own pretty well."  
"Thank you, Ukyo, I'm flattered, but-" Konatsu tried to say but a blush covered his face and the words wouldn't come out.  
"I know you like me as more than just a friend, sugar." Ukyo smiled. She knew Konatsu had a thing for her for a long time. To her he was a valuable and caring friend, but nothing more than that. "Believe it or not, but I love you like you were the brother I never had." She went on.  
Konatsu almost broke out in tears at that moment, but he suppressed it the instant it surfaced. "Does this mean you're not going to be in to work anymore?" he asked.  
"Well, I will be here from time to time, just not everyday like before." Ukyo explained. "After school is finished I can devote more time during the day."  
"And you are moving to the Tendo's residence?" Konatsu asked, puzzled.  
"I know it sounds weird, but yes, I'm moving into the Tendo home to be near Ranma honey." Ukyo smiled and hugged Ranma's arm.  
"Isn't he marrying Akane Tendo, or that Amazon woman Shampoo?" Konatsu asked, his curiosity raged within like a wild fire.  
"Yes." Was Ukyo vague answer.  
Konatsu looked infinitely puzzled and scratched his head. "Come over tomorrow night for dinner and we'll tell you everything." Said Ranma.  
"Tomorrow, alright, I guess I can close the shop early." Konatsu said, he already made up his mind to leave early. He wanted to know what was going on.  
Ukyo got up from the table and headed towards the back room of the restaurant. "I'll be back Ranma honey, I need to pack just a few things and we can head back."  
"Ok."   
  
Ranma held onto Ukyo's suitcase as he leaped through the air with Ukyo holding his other hand. They landed on the roof of one of the larger buildings in Nerima and ran towards the opposite side for the next jump. As martial artists getting around like this was easy. Ranma made a mental note to train Akane how to do this, and many more things. The four of them together as a fighting team would be unstoppable.  
"OH! HOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!"  
Ranma skidded to a halt on top of a rooftop only six more houses away from the Tendo home. He and Ukyo looked around trying to find the source of the laugh, but they didn't need any visual cues to tell them "who" it was. A voluptuous woman danced into view with flowing grace. She wore gymnastics leotards and carried a long ribbon on the end of a wand. She flashed Ranma a devilish smile and a demure, seductive wink.  
"Ah! I see that my beloved Ranma Saotome has return from his long sojourn." Kodachi smiled. "Your absence from our fair city was a travesty, a terrible torture that this poor soul could hardly bare to endure, my dear sweet Ranma." She put the back of her hand to her brow and leaned backwards as if she were about to swoon.  
"Isn't she spreading it a little thick." Ukyo muttered.  
The gymnastic martial artist was many things, mad perhaps, but not stupid. She saw the grip Ukyo had on Ranma's hand and she straightened up and pointed her ribbon towards the okonomiyaki chef.  
"You, how dare a mere commoner as yourself have the audacity to place her hands upon my beloved Ranma." She accused, anger evident in her eyes.  
Ukyo's other hands slowly reached up for her giant spatula. "I'm Ranma's fiancé, and what I do with him is my own business, thank you!"  
The Kuno woman tossed her head back in a defiant pose. "A mere laborer a fiancé of my beloved Ranma, it is to laugh. OH! HOHOHOHOHOHO! Such delusions!" Kodachi cackled.  
"You're the one who's delusional, bitch!" Ukyo was seething with anger, but it quelled instantly when Ranma touched her shoulder.  
"Kodachi, I am not now nor have ever been your man." Ranma told her firmly.  
"You say that now, my beloved, for you are confused and misguided by the wiles of this wicked deceiver." Kodachi said in her most sultry of voices. "But know that soon you shall come to understand the true love that exists between us and you shall soon be free to love me."  
"Just like a Kuno, clueless as ever." Ukyo snorted.  
Kodachi launched herself into the air, twirling her ribbon. Ranma and Ukyo split up to circle around the gymnast. Ranma spotted what looked like a strange glittery dust flowing from the Kodachi's ribbon towards his "cute" fiancé. "UKYO!" Too late, Ukyo's eyes fluttered for a moment, then she slowly settled down onto the roof and fell asleep. Ranma felt a body tackle him to the ground and when he looked up he was peering into Kodachi's seductive eyes. The woman had a single black rose in her mouth.  
"Now, my beloved, we are alone so we can consummate our love." Kodachi's voice dripped with desire.  
"Kodachi, I, uh-" Ranma stammered, but the woman's thigh rubbed up against a certain sensitive area on his body and his tongue suddenly became useless. She put a single finger across his lips and shushed him.  
"Do not speak my dear one, let us but drown ourselves in the sea of desire." Kodachi said, her thigh moved again and Ranma's brain failed to function. It was then that he realized something, he couldn't move. He peered around with his eyes and noticed a fine white dust on the black rose Kodachi had dropped onto his chest from her mouth. Paralysis powder!, his mind screamed.  
"KKKKKYYYYYAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!"  
Kodachi was off of him in a flash. He still couldn't move but could see the gymnast arcing through the air in a perfect summersault. She landed not far from him into an elegant gymnastic stance. Ranma looked in the other direction and his heart leaped with hope. Shampoo! She was in her fighting clothes and brandished her bombari.  
"What crazy woman think she do to Shampoo's airen?" Shampoo growled.  
Kodachi cackled in her sinister laugh again. "Why I am merely demonstrating that our love is real and that the feeling of you and this other are only a illusion. OH! HOHOHOHOHOHOHO!"  
"Shampoo no illusion, illusion can no kick butt like this!" Shampoo spat and she launched herself at the Kuno woman. Kodachi counters with her ribbon, twirling it in the air. Thin slender needles shoot forth from the end of the ribbon, but Shampoo deflects them all. The Amazon lands on her feet and quickly turns towards her quarry as the ribbon snakes out and wraps around one bombari.  
"OH! HOHOHOHOHOHOHO! And now the game is over." Kodachi laughs. An electric spark travels down the ribbon and hits Shampoo full force.  
"AAAAAIIIIYYYYYYYAAAAAAAA!!!!!"   
SWOOOSH!!!! Kodachi, acting on instinct born from fighting in the gymnastic martial arts tournaments for years, ducks forward under Ukyo's uncoordinated spatula surprise attack. The chef was still feeling the effects of the sleeping powder, but it was almost completely worn off except for the dizzying side effects.  
"You psychotic bitch!" Ukyo sung again, missed, and almost fell over from the momentum of her own swing.  
Ranma watched all of this from where he lay on the roof. Why can't I move yet, I thought the effects of the powers didn't last this long., he told himself. He watched as Shampoo's back arched backwards when she was electrocuted by Kodachi's ribbon. The beautiful Amazon warrior slumped to the roof tiles, then Ukyo stumbled to her feet and made a clumsy swing for the mad woman. I gotta get out of this or Ukyo and Shampoo will get hurt., he told himself. He also didn't want to admit it, but he also didn't want Kodachi to get hurt either. Just as he had been taught by his grandfather, Ranma reached within himself and call upon the power of his birthright. The Jurai Power.  
Kodachi had produced a set of clubs from nowhere and was preparing to pummel Ukyo when a bright light blinded her eyes. The Kuno woman turned towards the source of this new interference and watched in amazement as Ranma's body rose into the air. He was surrounded by a bright radiant light.  
"Ranma honey---" Ukyo could do nothing but watch him in awe.  
The light began to fade and Ranma landed on his feet. The instant his shoes touched the roof tiles he took a fighting stance. "This simply cannot be!" Kodachi gasped in surprise. "That powder was a new mixture, you should have remains immobile for hours!"  
"Your poisons and tricks can't effect me anymore." Ranma told her. Ukyo and Shampoo came around the dangerous gymnast to take a fighting stance on either side of the man they loved.  
"I see, well, it seems this battle is at a stalemate." Kodachi smiled. She produced a new ribbon and twirled it around her body. Black rose peddles showered down upon the three. "Until we meet again, my beloved. OH! HOHOHOHOHOH!" and in a blizzard of rose peddles she was gone.  
  
The three returned to the Tendo household. Akane could tell immediately that something had happened. As if the black rose peddles on Ranma's shoulder weren't a noticeable giveaway. The looks on Ukyo and Shampoo's faces were certainly evidence that they were rather upset. They conveyed the events that occurred on the roof. When this reached a certain Tendo sister's ears the old Akane quickly surfaced.  
"SHE DID WHAT! SHE RUBBED HIM WHERE? RRRRRAAAAANNNNNMMMMAAAAA!!!!!"  
Ranma raised his arms in defense against the most feared force in all the universe: a pissed off girl with a wooden mallet. "Hey, it wasn't my fault she hit with one of her paralysis powder!" Ranma yelled in defense.  
"He's telling the truth sugar, she got me with a sleeping powder."   
Akane slumped her shoulders and looked up at Ranma with an almost ashamed expression. She realized she let the old Akane show, it had been a long time since she surfaced. "I'm sorry, please forgive me Ranma." She said in a near whisper. "I should learn to trust you."  
Ranma reached out and pulled her into an embrace. The youngest Tendo sister started to cry. "It's alright, I forgive you, stop crying." He said soothingly.  
Akane's expression shift from one of sad shame to one of intense anger. Her battle aura raged like a roaring fire. "That nutcase bitch, who does that hussy think she is!" Akane growled. "She belongs in a rubber room."  
Ranma smiled at her and laughed, "What the hell are you talking about, that whole damn family belongs in a rubber room."  
"Aiya! Shampoo totally agree."   
  
Kasumi walked out into the back yard with a basket of wet laundry. She it down and set about hanging them to dry. As she finished her work her eyes fell upon the face of her father's statue. Kasumi stood in place, her gaze no moving, not an eye blinking. Kasumi knelt before her family's alter, the summer breeze playfully swung her hair which was wrapped up into two large buns on either side of her head. She finished her prayer to her ancestors and stood up just as the sound of horse hooves reached her ears. Kasumi turned towards the sound with joy in her heart. She knew who this must be. She moved with quick grace through the house, slipped on her wooden sandals and went out to greet her visitor. A man wearing the dress of a samurai in service to the Emperor of Japan rode through the main entrance to the residence. Kasumi suppressed her urge to run to the man and throw her arms around him. She had to restraint, poise, and ladylike honor for she was not yet married. The man walked up to her, his armor making a jingling sound as he walked. When he reached her he fell to one knee before her and held up in his hands a parchment scroll bound by a blue ribbon.  
"Sakumi, my most beautiful flower, I return bearing great honor to bless our impending marriage." He said peering up at her, his eyes filled with love and admiration.  
"Oh, Hikaru, the Emperor has restored the name to your clan." Kasumi gasped in surprise as she read the scroll. The samurai stood and took her into his arms. Kasumi's heart soared, she pressed her lips to his and her soul joined the birds of the air in their flight.  
"Now, we can wed, my beloved, the honor of my fallen clan is restored." The samurai said softly.  
"Nothing makes me happier than the words you have just spoken, my beloved Hikaru." Kasumi sighed, a tear of happiness rolled slowly down her cheek. The samurai reached up with his hand and whipped it away. The wind began tossing cherry blossom peddles into the air and swirled them around the couple. In the air Kasumi could hear words, as if the Gods were whispering to her. The voice became louder and louder, it seemed so familiar.  
"Kasumi! Hey, Kasumi! Earth to Kasumi, come in Kasumi!"  
"Huh? Oh, Nabiki, did you need anything?" Kasumi asked as she turned to her younger sister. Nabiki looked at her oldest sister with an expression of great concern.   
"Kasumi, you were spacing out again." Nabiki told her.  
The elder Tendo sister put a hand to her cheek. "Oh my! Did I do that again?"  
"That's the second time today, the fifth time in two days." Nabiki counted on her fingers. "Are you feeling alright?"  
Kasumi just smiled happily, for some reason she was very happy all of a sudden. "I'm feeling just fine, Nabiki." She walked past her sister and into the house. Kasumi went into the kitchen and checked to see if the chicken she set out was done thawing yet. It was then that she felt something on her face. Kasumi touched her cheek and whipped away...a tear drop. "How did that get there?" she asked nobody in particular.  
  
Ranma sat nervously in the dining room with his three fiancés, it was their presence that helped to calm him down a bit. Today was the day of the dinner, the day he would reveal to certain people in Nerima his heritage and intentions to marry the three girls who sat with him now. Konatsu was already in attendance. He saw calmly sipping green tea waiting for the other guests to arrive. He looked like a she, having been raised by a band of female ninja all of his life it is the only way of life he had ever known until Ukyo took him. Soun and Genma were absent from this get together. Nabiki made it worth their while if the two went out for dinner tonight rather than eat at home. Nabiki loved her father, but he little love for Genma. She knew how he treated Ranma during their training mission, and had witnessed his twisted concept how to be a father when he was living at the Tendo home.  
The closet door opened attracting everyone's attention. Tenchi stepped out followed by the rest of the girls from Ohkayama. Ranma tensed a little upon seeing Ryo-Ohki on Sasami's head. She quickly jumped down and transformed into her child form.  
"Today's the day." Tenchi smiled and sat down at the table.  
"I hope this isn't all a big mistake, it could get nasty." Said Ranma.  
"Who on Earth could ever beat you two." Washu chimed in pointing at both him and Tenchi.  
"Heh, you guys haven't met Pantyhose Taro yet." Ranma laughed.  
"Did we have to invite the Kunos to this shindig, Ranma honey?" Ukyo asked.  
"Either that or we have them at our throats every chance they get."  
"Shampoo would not mind another shot at crazy woman." She produced at bombari to emphasize her point.  
Ranma pushed the weapon down slowly. "Lets try not to demolish the house today."  
"Who else is coming?" Tenchi asked.  
"Uh, lets see, Cologne, who is Shampoo's great grandmother, Konatsu, who is already here, Kodachi Kuno, her brother Tatawaki Kuno, you met bokken boy already in Ohkayama, we couldn't find Ryoga, as usual, and Miss. Hinako our high school English teacher." Akane counted off the people as she named them.  
"Miss. Hinako, the battle aura vampire?" Washu asked eagerly.  
"The same." Ranma replied.  
A familiar gleam came to Washu's eyes, she called up on translucent computer. "If she uses her powers I'll have my instruments analyze her attack and determine a good counter for it."  
"Cool!" Ranma beamed a wide grin.  
  
Cologne used her long wooden cane stick like a pogo stick as she bounded over the rooftops of Nerima. She stopped before the gates to the Tendo home and was overwhelmed for a moment by the immense energy inside the house. She could feel Ranma's aura emanating from inside, but these others were foreign to her. They were almost alien, otherworldly. This only drove her curiosity to new heights. The Amazon elder bounded up to the front door and rang the door chimes. The older Tendo girl Kasumi, Cologne remembered her from the stay on Prince Toma's Togenkyo island, answered the door.  
"Miss. Cologne, we've been expecting you." She smiled.  
She led Cologne into the dining room. "Would you like some tea?" Kasumi asked as the old woman settled at the table. "Yes. That would be lovely, dear child." She smiled back. Cologne always had a soft spot in her heart for the always happy-go-lucky eldest Tendo sister.  
"Nihao, great grandma!" Shampoo waved in greeting.  
"Shampoo, Miss. Kuonji, Akane, Son-in-Law." Cologne nodded in greeting to them. She turned to the others, the source of the immense energy she detected from outside.  
"Here you go." Kasumi said cheerful, placing a cup and saucer in front of the old woman. Cologne took a light sip.  
"Very good, not too light, yet not too bitter."  
"Thank you." Kasumi blushed at the compliment and went back to the kitchen.  
"Son-in-law, will you introduce me to your other guest?" Cologne asked.  
"Oh, yeah, uh, granny, this is my cousin Tenchi, he lives in Ohkayama." Said Ranma. Cologne nodded to the young man. She studied him for a moment. He was about Ranma's age, quite handsome, with dark eyes, short black hair. He had a slight tan, probably from working outdoors a great deal, she surmised. If only I were a few hundred years younger., she thought.  
"A cousin, from which side of the family?" she asked.  
"My mother's, we have the same grandfather." Ranma explained.  
Interesting, from his chi aura he is no doubt a martial artist as well, and a powerful one., Cologne observed in thought.  
"We have heard a great deal about you Matriarch Cologne." The one who spoke, Cologne observed, was a petite young woman with purple tinted hair done up in a fashion similar to the Mercenary Girl of the Tendo family, except for the long bangs. She had a strange aura, denoting immense hidden potential, and strangely also possessed the clear indications of a noble birth and upbringing.  
"Its just Cologne, Miss.-"  
"Aeka."  
"Miss. Aeka, just called me Cologne, we have no need for such formality at this gathering." Cologne smiled, happy to find one civilized person among these barbarians. Aeka returned the smile.  
"Hi, I'm Sasami, Aeka's little sister." Cologne looked at the speaker, a little girl. She was perhaps the most beautiful little girl she had ever seen since Shampoo was a child. She had sky blue hair that hung like twin water spout pony tails from either side of her head, and tiny freckles on her cheeks. Her aura was the most unusual of the entire group, it suggested immense, hidden potential just like her sister, but ever more so than her sister. Cologne also sensed a second presence, a powerful one, its energy was even more immense than the people who were in attendance. This is getting more and more interesting by the minute., she thought.  
"And a very lovely child you are, Sasami."  
The little girl smiled, quickly turning a deep shade of red.  
Aeka and Sasami sat to Tenchi's right, but to his left was a very different person altogether. Cologne sensed a similar mannerism in her that reminded her of Ranma. She was a very beautiful creature, wearing a dressed that showed perhaps a bit too much cleavage, and had spiked, cyan hair. This same girl grabbed onto Tenchi arm.  
"And, I'm Ryoko, Tenchi's beloved fiancé."  
Cologne watched as Aeka turned to look at the girl with a menacing expression, then a girl sitting next to Ryoko reached out and grabbed her ear.  
"Ouch, ouch, owie, that hurts!"  
"Be a good Little Ryoko and behave yourself."  
The girl in question was younger than Akane but older than Sasami. She was no less pretty than the other young girl, with a shock of reddish pink hair, and lovely jade green eyes. She let Ryoko got and went back to sipping her tea. The girl's aura was as unusual as Sasami's, but there was no second presence. Ryoko's aura was totally alien from anyone Cologne had ever seen before.  
"Asking Ryoko to behave herself is the same as asking water to run up a waterfall." Said Aeka.  
"What was that?!" Ryoko growled.  
"Oh, please don't fight." Pleaded the last of the girls sitting with Tenchi, a lovely young blond girl. She had large blue eyes, long curly blond hair, and a dark tan. She was quite a lovely young woman, Cologne had to admit. Her aura denoted to hidden power but it was still unusual.  
"Girls, remember your promise." Tenchi said.  
Both girls turned away from one another with a "Humph!"  
Cologne suppressed an urge to laugh. So, fiancé problems are not unique to Ranma I see., she thought to herself. That was when her eyes met the strange little girl sitting with Sasami. She sat between her and the blond woman. Cologne wasn't sure why she missed her before. Upon immediately visual inspection she knew this one was not human by any stretch of the imagination. She was a very pretty creature, looking to be around Sasami's age, with light brown and white hair hanging down her back in long locks, and two long, pointed ears. She had a reddish jewel like object in her forehead, her face and hands were covered in a very thin, light brown fuzz. The child creature was busily munching away on a large carrot. Her aura was as non-human as her appearance.  
  
The door chimes rang and Kasumi went to answer it. She returned to the dining room escorting Miss. Hinako. Since school hadn't started yet it should have been hard to find the English teacher of Fureinken High, but both Akane and Ranma knew where her apartment is. She was in child form wearing a tube dress.  
"Would you like some tea?" Kasumi asked her.  
"Yeah, and do you have any candy?"  
Ranma just sighed, this was going to be a long dinner. He just knew it.  
  
Next to arrive were the Kunos, Tatawaki, Kodachi, and the Principle of Fureinken High. It was very risky inviting the three of them to this get together, but it was intended to put misunderstandings to an end. Only one problem, Kunos had a problem with 'understanding'.  
"Hiya keiki, tanks fo invitin' da big kahuna to ya luau."  
Tatawaki seemed to be brooding a bit, he didn't start in with his proclamations of smiting the vile sorcerer Saotome to free the fair Akane Tendo and his pig tailed goddess. Kodachi however was a different story.  
"Ranma, my darling, why don't we leave the others here and we can have our own private dinner by candlelight." She was in her gymnast leotard holding a single black rose. At her comment Akane, Ukyo, and Shampoo moved closer to Ranma and wrapped their arms around him. Their expressions directed at the demented girl screamed, "Mine! Mine! Mine!"  
  
The dinner half of the evening went by fine, everyone was enjoying Kasumi's masterwork from the kitchen. Sasami compared it, silently, to her own cooking and made a mental note to exchange recipes with the elder Tendo sister. Ranma and Ryoko were in a race to see who could eat the most in one sitting. Akane was still amazed that there was somebody who could eat as much as Ranma could, and maybe just a tiny bit faster.  
Dessert was served, strawberry shortcake with French vanilla ice cream. When everybody was done and the dishes cleared the difficult part of the evening was about to begin, the explanations of why they were all here.  
"Well, in June of next year we'll be graduating from high school." Ranma explained.  
"Ya tink so brudda, nobody graduations wit out the big kahuna's ok."  
"Daddy, behave yourself." Kodachi said. She waved her rose in front of his face, the nutcase principle in the Hawaiian shirt blinked his eyes sleepily and collapsed where he sat.  
"For once I'm grateful for her damned poisons." Ukyo whispered to the others.  
"Please continue my dear Ranma." Kodachi swiftly blew him a kiss.  
"Uh, eh, well, my cousin Tenchi is moving in to attend college here with me and the others in Nerima." Ranma continued.  
Cologne thought about this, another powerful martial artist in Nerima, related to Ranma. There must be come way to bring him into the tribe also.  
"After college, we're both getting married." Ranma went on. As he said "getting married" Akane, Ukyo, and Shampoo sighed and leaned up against him.  
Cologne did a Spock Maneuver and realized several things. For one, Shampoo and Ukyo Kuonji were hanging onto Ranma, yet Akane wasn't pummeling the poor boy into the floorboards. She was hugging him along with them, she also seemed to be getting along with the two other girls as well. Cologne focused her chi sight and looked at the four of them carefully. She nearly gasped as she suddenly recognized it, their aura's pulsed with a golden glow in unison, but that only happens if-  
"You intend to marry Akane Tendo, Ukyo Kuonji, and Shampoo!" Cologne shouted.  
Kuno was on his feet instantly, he had remained silent, only speaking when Kasumi asked him if he wanted any tea. Now he was on his feet with his bokken in hand. "Foul cur, not only hath thou stolen the affections of the fair Akane Tendo from my grasp but thou now seek to defile the lovely Ukyo Kuonji and the beautiful Amazon maiden Shampoo as well!"  
"I cannot allow this, it is obvious they are forcing my darling Ranma into this wholly inappropriate situation!" The demented gymnast sprang up and produced her deadly ribbon.  
A flash of light filled the dinning room. The Kuno siblings looked in shock at their hands, their weapons were reduced to smoldering fragments of their former selves. Ryoko lowered her hands, energy still crackling between her fingers from the twin blasts she released. The two sat down, still trying to figure out how it happened so quickly.  
"How is this possible, a three way marriage isn't legal in Japan, and anyway its pretty sexists if you ask me." Said Miss. Hinako. "But then we are talking about Ranma Saotome, the epitome of perversion."  
"What was that!?" Ranma nearly leapt across the table at the child teacher, but his fiancés restrained him, or at least tried to.  
"HAPPO FIVE YEN SATSU!"  
When the light subsided Ranma slumped into the embrace of his fiancés who were giving the now voluptuous, adult Miss. Hinako lethal stares. If looks could kill the teacher would have smeared on the wall behind her. Washu immediately had her translucent computer out analyzing the data from her hidden instruments in the room.  
"The marriage is quite possible and will be legal, I assure you." Spoke up the young woman whom had been introduced as Aeka.  
"Miss. Aeka, I do not see how this is possible, in Japan such a marriage isn't possible or legal." Miss. Hinako retorted in her deep, sultry adult voice.  
"Simple, Miss. Hinako, the marriage will not take place in Japan but in a territory belonging to Ranma's birthright, Jurai."  
Jurai! Cologne was in shock, it had been a long time since he heard that name. Knowledge of Jurai was passed down throughout the generations in Amazon lore in their ancient library of old tomes and scrolls. Jurai, the mythical kingdom that resided among the stars. It brought to mind an ancient story told long ago of a warrior from Jurai who fell to Earth fighting a demon whom was sealed up in a cave when the warrior defeated it in battle. Ranma was related to this mythical kingdom in the sky!  
"I am no expect on geography but I've never heard of a country called Jurai." Miss. Hinako said. She crossed her arms over her ample chest, which was large enough to make Ryoko envious, and gave Tenchi a massive nosebleed. Almost immediately she reverted back to child form. "Oh pooh, ran out of energy!"  
"Fascinating." Washu muttered from her computer.  
"You spoke of Jurai, this place is known in Amazon lore as a mythical kingdom that presides in the sky." Said Cologne.  
"There is an ancient legend of a battle between a warrior from Jurai and a demon, the demon was sealed in a cave for eternity." She went on.  
"Eternity my ass." Ryoko muttered.  
"Jurai is quite real, Miss. Cologne, I am a member of the Royal Family of Jurai." Aeka explained.  
"A sky kingdom, princesses, this sounds like a episode of Sailor Moon." Said Miss. Hinako.  
Aeka gestured towards Ranma and Tenchi. "By relation to my half-brother, Prince Yosho, their grandfather, Lord Tenchi and Lord Ranma are members of the Jurai Royal Family, and immediate members of the Direct Line of Succession."  
Ranma is a Prince! This went through the minds of Cologne, Miss. Hinako, and Kodachi, with differing results.  
According to the ancient text Jurai is very powerful, you bring to the tribe great power and influence my son-in-law., Cologne thought.  
My dear sweet Ranma is a prince, oh be still my beating heart, my greatest dream has been realized!, Kodachi cheered in her mind. There was a great deal of echoing.  
Ranma a Prince, the worst pervert in the history of Fureinken High who felt me up several times for those pressure points, no way!, Miss. Hinako told herself.  
"Under the laws of Jurai a three way marriage is quite legal, and as a direct member of the line of succession it is expected of him to marry more than one wife to ensure the continuation of the royal bloodline." Aeka explained.  
Ukyo and Shampoo are powerful martial artists, their offspring with Ranma will be powerful warriors, Akane is not, she is an afterthought, but perhaps her offspring will not be a total loss., thought Cologne.  
"Are three wives the limit the laws of Jurai permit?" Miss. Hinako asked.  
"Oh no, as a member of the Royal Family Ranma is entitled to have as many wives as he sees fit." Aeka explained to her.  
Kodachi was on her feet, her face a mask of rapture. "Oh glorious day, oh what sweet words do my ears behold, my dearest Ranma and I will no longer be forced to remain apart!"  
"LIKE HELL!" the three fiancés all growled and gripped Ranma closer as he recovered from Hinako's drain.  
"You, Lady Aeka, what is your role in all of this?" Kuno asked.  
"I am betrothed to Lord Tenchi, as is also Ryoko, Miss. Washu, Miss. Mihoshi, and my sister Sasami.  
"Yet another foul sorcerer bewitches beautiful maidens, as he is related to the vile Saotome it is of little surprise." Kuno spat.  
"You can't talk to my Tenchi like that!" Ryoko seethed in rage, she clenched her fist and energy surged around her fingers.  
"Miss. Cologne, you spoke of a legend, that warrior in the legend was my grandfather, Yosho, and the demon sealed in the cave was Ryoko." Tenchi spoke up, hoping a change in the subject would help.  
"Egad! Even demons are not immune to your bewitching, foul sorcerer!" Kuno shouted at Ranma.  
"Geeze, how dense is Kuno anyway?" Ranma whispered to his girls.  
"I see, many myths and legends have their basis in fact." Said Cologne.  
"Why are you telling us all of this?" Miss. Hinako asked.  
"To eliminate misunderstanding of certain things." Aeka explained.  
Ranma coughed. "Tell that to the Kunos."  
Cologne turned to her great granddaughter. "Shampoo, I now see why you will not be returning to China with your chosen mate, the tribe will recognize your request." Besides, this means you shall become royalty, a member of one of the most powerful kingdoms in our ancient mythology., Cologne said to herself.  
"Thank you for understanding, great grandmother."  
"So this means you'll lay off me, old ghoul?" Ranma asked.  
Cologne let that one slide, this time. "For now." Was her only reply.  
"This is an outrage, I will not allow the fair Akane Tendo and the others to suffer this indignation!" Kuno shouted, back on his feet holding the blackened stump of his bokken. "You have not seen the last of Tatawaki Kuno!"  
The Blue Thunder of Fureinken High stomped out of the room and left out of the shoji doors into the back yard. The last they saw of him was just before he leapt over the wall surrounding the dojo. Ranma and his three fiancés sighed both in relief he was gone, and in exasperation that it wasn't over yet.  
Kodachi was next, she leapt up to her feet and produced another ribbon wand. "Nor shall I stand by and allow my dear sweet Ranma become the unwilling breeding stock of some imperial plot!"  
"Damn, and I thought Mihoshi was dense." Ryoko muttered.  
Kodachi assumed a gymnast pose. "We shall meet again my dear Ranma, and I shall free you from your horrendous fate my love! Oh! Hohohohohoho!" She twirled her ribbon over her head and vanished in a whirlwind of black rose pedals. Washu looked up from her computer and snorted, "Cheap optical illusion."  
  
"We're really sorry it didn't turn out better with the Kuno family." Aeka said after the rest of the guests were gone. Principle Kuno had to be dropped off at his home by Ryoko, he was still asleep. To the joy of everyone in the house.  
"That's ok, Miss. Hinako seemed alright with it at least." Ranma replied.  
"And great grandmother seem happy too."  
"She's probably scheming some way to take advantage of the fact your going to become a princess soon, Shampoo." Said Akane.  
"This is true." Shampoo sighed, knowing her great grandmother all too well.  
Mihoshi had gone out into the back yard to look at the koi pond and now ran back into the house holding something in her arms. "Oh! He's so cute, I didn't know the Tendo's had a pet."  
"Bwee!"  
"P-CHAN!" Akane leapt up and grabbed the little black pig from Mihoshi's arms and cuddled it. "Where have you been all this time, you naughty little piggy."  
"Can I hold him, he's so cute?" Sasami asked, her eyes stilled with stars.  
"Sure." Akane handed the little animal to Sasami and she cradled it in her arms. The little black pig didn't seem to mind, but still looked up at Akane somewhat longingly.  
"Uh, Akane, can Shampoo and me talk to you for a sec?" Ukyo asked, tapping Akane on the shoulder. "Sure, you can hold him for a while Sasami, I'll be back." She followed the two girls into another part of the house away from the others. They lead her to the bathroom and closed the door.  
"Since we're all officially Ranma's fiancés and we're no longer rival and stuff Shampoo and I decided to reveal something to you." Ukyo explained.  
"Ranma knows, but made honor oath as man to no tell anybody." Shampoo added.  
"What?"  
"Well, you know how Ranma honey has his curse to turn into a girl, Shampoo turns into a cat, and Mousse turns into a duck." Ukyo told her. Akane nodded her head, not sure where this was going.  
"Ryoga have Josenkyo curse too." Shampoo continued the explanation.  
"Ryoga? He has a curse too." Akane seemed surprised at this, she never saw him change, not even once.  
"It was Ranma's fault, back when he was cursed also, and he made a promise on his honor never to reveal it to anyone." Ukyo told her.  
"I can understand that, but why tell me this now, Ryoga isn't here?" Akane asked.  
"Yes, he is." The two girls replied.  
"Huh?"  
"Think about it, sugar, he wears those stupid yellow and black bandanas, who or what else wears those bandanas." Ukyo said hoping she gave Akane enough of a hint.  
She was satisfied that she succeeded when Akane's eyes went wide with shock and denial. "No. NO! He's not P-Chan! No!" Akane yelled, tears in her eyes.  
"Ranma cannot tell Akane, but agreement he make with Ryoga do not extend to Ukyo and Shampoo." The young Amazon said.  
Akane stumbled against the bathroom wall and slid down, pulling her legs up under her chin. "Oh god, he's been in my room, he's seen me naked, she slept in my bed, Kami knows what he did to me when I slept!" The tears were pouring forth now. Akane felt betrayed, despite the incident in Ohkayama she thought Ryoga was still a good person with mislead opinions of Ranma. Now she saw him in a new light, she felt violated, as if she'd been raped. Now it all fell into place. "Ranma stop picking on Ryoga!" "Ranma stop picking on P-Chan!" All those times he fought with the little black pig he'd been trying to protect her from him, he was bound by honor not to say a word, but that didn't stop him from trying to protect her. And what did she do, she clobbered him with her mallet, kicked him through the ceiling. Oh, Ranma, I'm so sorry, please forgive me!, Akane screamed inside of herself.  
"Akane?" Ukyo said as the girl stood up, a blank look on her face. Then, the two girls began to feel the heat as Akane's battle aura surged. "Uh, Akane?" The girl was responding to Ukyo at all, her face took on a wicked, enraged expression.  
"Shampoo remember she have things to do in bedroom!" the young Amazon said as she dashed from the room. "Uh, yeah, I gotta unpack my things again!" Ukyo said as she ran off also, hoping to get clear of ground zero.  
  
Ryoga was enjoying himself. The little girl was cute, he liked her giggle, and the almost-too-happy-for-words blond girl was really pretty. Well, not as pretty as his Akane, in his opinion. Akane came back to the dining room and picked him up. She cuddled him to her chest. "Lets get you something to eat, P-Chan, I bet you're hungry." She turned and went into the kitchen.  
  
Kasumi was a consummate gourmet chef, she demanded that things be just right in her kitchen, although you'd never hear from complain about anything. To assist in her cooking her father had installed for her an instant boiling water tap, an invention from America used in restaurants and some upper class homes. The retractable nozzle could product instant boiling water from a replenished reservoir of heated water under the counter.  
Akane got P-Chan his usual plate of dinner scraps and stood watching as the little pig ate. Ryoga didn't really like this part of the masquerade but if it made Akane happy he's endure it. So rapt up in eating he didn't noticed Akane reach over for the nozzle, nor did he notice her aiming at his tiny body.  
  
"YYYYAAAAHHHHH!!!! HOT! HOT! HOT!"  
"RYOGA NO BAKA!!!!!!!"  
  
Ranma, Tenchi, and the others all turned quickly to the kitchen as a very naked, and badly scalded young man scrambled from the kitchen chased by an enraged Akane brandishing a huge wooden mallet that was several times larger than she was.  
"Oh my!" Kasumi gasped.  
"I wondered when she's figure it out, this could get ugly." Ranma said as he dashed from the room to follow them. Tenchi and his entourage followed behind him.  
"Come out here and face your death like a pig, I mean man!" Akane yelled at the door to he laundry room. "Akane, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, this is all Ranma's fault, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!" came Ryoga's pleading voice from the other side.  
"You used me, you took advantage of me, you saw me change my clothes, you saw me naked, my slept I my bed and probably felt me up!" Akane screamed. "And I'm supposed to forgive you!!!!!"  
"Its all Ranma's fault, don't you understand, it's his fault!" Ryoga cried, his voice cracking.  
"Its his fault you slept with me in my bed, its his fault you deceived me all of this time, invading my privacy, soiling my honor by sleeping with me in my bed!!!!!" Akane seethed with rage. The heat from her battle aura was starting to make the paint on the walls crack. She swung her chi mallet and smashed the door down, Ryoga was cowering inside near the big washtub sink. He had pulled out one of his hidden stashes of clothing from the room and was now fully dressed except for a pair of shoes.  
"RYOGA!!! PREPARE TO DIE!!!  
Now that's something I thought I'd never hear., Ranma thought. He raced up to Akane using his new superhuman speed and snatched the mallet from her hands, its disintegrated instantly, but the girl's battle aura was still in full force. The metal of the washer and dryer started to groan and deform from the intense heat.  
"Akane, killing him won't solve anything." Ranma said as calmly as possible.  
"HE DESERVES TO DIE!!!! HE PRACTIALLY RAPED ME!!!!"  
Moving with inhuman speed Ranma hit Akane's pressure points, knocking her out cold. Her battle aura fizzled out instantly as she fell backwards into his waiting arms.  
"You really owe me a big one for this Ryoga, I should have let her pummel you into next week." Ranma said to the Lost Boy who was now climbing to his feet.  
"This is all your fault Ranma, you told her!!!!" Ryoga shouted.  
"No, Ranma honey didn't, I did." Ukyo said, popping her had through the ruined door and pointing to herself. "Shampoo also did." The young Amazon added.  
"But-"  
"We are now officially Ranma's fiancés, we're all getting married to him after he finished college." Ukyo explained.  
"Wah-"  
"You might want to get as far away from here as possible, before Akane wakes up." Ranma warned the Lost Boy.  
"I never forget this Ranma." Ryoga said menacingly as he opened a window and leapt through it.  
Ranma sighed, he couldn't see in the dark of night was Ryoga leapt over the wall. "Why me?"  
__________  
To be continued...  
  
Next time...  
Part 2: Fureinken Daze  
Its Spring time now and the school year for Ranma are almost over. Only a few more months of school remain, but as things wind down towards graduation strange things begin to happen; beyond the already strange things that already take place around Fureinken High. Ranma calls on Washu and his cousin Tenchi to help him unravel the mysterious happenings. 


	2. Part 2: Fureinken Daze

DISCLAIMER: "Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki" is a registered trademark and copyright of AIC Inc. and Pioneer. "Ranma 1/2" is a registered trademark and copyright of Rumiko Takahashi, Viz Communications and Kitty Productions.  
__________  
  
T E N C H I 1 / 2: FAMILY REUNION II  
  
By Michael "TheZorch" Haney  
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PART 2: Fureinken Daze  
  
The Goddess of Springtime opened her arms over the skies of Nerima, a small prefecture of Tokyo, Japan, and covered the land in a blanket of renewed life. The trees awakened after a long winter, which in this region of Japan wasn't very severe, and spring flowers stretched up through the soil reaching out towards the life giving rays of the morning sun. All seemed so calm on this spring morning in Nerima, but in a small section of the city near Fureinken High School that was about to change.  
By this time Ranma's arrival at the high school, with three lovely young girls in tow. every morning didn't draw much attention. Except if you were one Tatawaki Kuno that is. The Blue Thunder of Fureinken High stood at the gates awaiting the arrival of the four with his trusty bokken in hand. When they showed up and walked through the gate, the bokken boy made his move.  
"Foul sorcerer, today your hold over the lovely ladies of Fureinken High shall come to an end!"  
"He really needs to come up with better lines." Akane muttered under her breath.  
"Face me cur, and prepare to taste the righteous sword of Kuno!" Kuno swung at Ranma's head only to gasp as it passed through thin air. Ranma materialized above Kuno's head, landing on it, causing the blue Thunder of Fureinken High to bend over from the added weight.  
"Just how much more stupid can you get, Kuno?" Ranma laughed.  
"Fiend!" Kuno reared up throwing Ranma off and turned to attack. Ranma didn't move, the bokken swung hard, and impacted an invisible barrier just inches from Ranma's face.  
"I mean, its no fun kicking your butt anymore, you make it too easy." Ranma raised his hand and flicked his fingers at the Bokken Boy, the compressed air from the move was enough to knock Kuno off his feet.  
"How dare you speak to me in such a tongue!" Kuno recovered and swung again only to have Ranma reach out, grab the bokken in his hand effortless, reverse Kuno's move senting the boy skidding along the ground face first.  
"Dirt sandwich! YUM!" Shampoo spoke up, giggling.  
Ukyo and Akane chuckled.  
The four continued on their way into the school as Kuno struggled to pull himself out of the trench his head made in the ground. Nabiki sighed, nobody was interested in betting on Ranma and Kuno's fights anymore, it was starting to bite into her profit margins. "You know Ranma, this is getting bad for business." She commented to him.  
"I can't help it if Kuno's a dweeb." Ranma replied.  
Nabiki waved at him dismissively. "Whatever, Saotome." Inwardly, she was suppressing an urge to run up to him, throw him to the ground, and ravish him right there in the middle of the hallway. Her urges and visions of her and Ranma together were getting stronger, so strong that Nabiki was starting to have trouble sleeping at night. She kept all of this a secret, though, she didn't want her sister to dismember her for having secret desires for her fiancé.  
The rest of the day was semi-normal for a day at Fureinken High School. Ranma was making a real effort to stay awake during his classes, especially Miss. Hinako's English class. Ukyo and Akane were helping him with his grades, and the teachers were impressed with his turnaround. Shampoo was attending school also on a student visa Nabiki helped her obtain, since the Amazons were technically in the country illegally. Her attendance at school wasn't really to learn, she just wanted an excuse to be near Ranma more often during the day.  
Lunch time came around and the four gathered under their customary tree in the school yard. Akane has been learning to cook with the help of Shampoo, Ukyo, Kasumi, and occasionally Sasami when she came to visit. Akane was getting better, but Shampoo still called her "Kitchen Destroyer" to get a rise out of the girl from time to time. Today, she made them all lunch, it was simple, and it actually tasted good.  
"You're getting better, Akane, that was good." Ranma commented after inhaling his bento box.  
"Thanks." Akane beamed him a bright smile that could have outshined the sun.  
"Luckily I brought my grill, Ranma honey has a bottomless pit for a stomach you know and there is no way that'll fill him up.." Ukyo said as she worked her portable grill making okonomiyaki.  
"You got that right, he swallowed his lunch in less then five seconds." Akane laughed.  
"Aiya, Shampoo never seen food disappear so fast."  
"Hey, remember when you two tried to trick me into thinking you were married?" Ukyo asked as she flipped one of the sizzling okonomiyaki effortlessly in the air.  
"Seems like a million years ago." Said Ranma.  
"Ranma and I really got off on a bad foot in our relationship, we would have been together a long time ago if not for several problems, and our fathers." Akane explained.  
"That's ancient history, we're all together now." Ranma smiled at her and his other two fiancés.  
"We never really apologized for the mess we made of your wedding too." Said Ukyo. She slid a finished seafood okonomiyaki onto a paper plate and handed it to Ranma.  
"Was stupid to do that." Shampoo added sadly.  
"It's water under the bridge, girls." Akane told them, taking an okonomiyaki form Ukyo. She liked hers with tropical fruits and tofu.  
Ranma sat up and leaned closer to the three. "Listen, I ain't no poet like Kuno, well that's a good thing I guess, but these past few months of us living together have been really great." The girls looked at him with stars in their eyes. "I won't trade any minute of it for nothing, and I love all of you and I hope things can stay like this for a long time."  
"Oh Ranma." The three swooned.  
"I am being silly for thinking like that, aren't I." Ukyo laughed.  
Akane looked up at the clock tower on the school. "Better pack it up, Ukyo, lunch is almost over."  
Ukyo had her portable grill stowed in its special carry case within seconds. "Seems like lunch time is getting shorter and shorter everyday."  
"I wouldn't doubt if that old creep principle of ours messes with the clock." Ranma spat.  
"You know that's something he'd actually do." Akane realized. She decided to have a talk with Nabiki later to look in it.  
  
School was finally over for the day, to the relief of the four lovers. Ranma was in his customary position up on the chain link fence, when he noticed nobody around he gestured for Akane to come up. She looked around to make sure nobody was looking since she was wearing a dress. With one jump she made it up to the top of the fence.  
"Ok, just like I showed you." Ranma said.  
Since the beginning of school Ranma took it upon himself to train Akane in the Anything Goes Martial Arts. Her deadbeat father wouldn't, so he decided to do it himself. Ukyo and Shampoo assisted by sparing with her, eventually she got good enough to hold her own against a three way attack by Ukyo, Shampoo, and Ranma in girl-form. Roof Hopping had taken a while to master, but she was able to do that now without much help. She still needed to learn balance, and these fence walking exercises after school were helping dramatically.  
"Hey, you're really doing good, Akane, no wobbling today!" Ranma cheered her on. Akane looked back at him, blushing, and giving him a look that promised a rewards for later when they were alone. Ranma welcomed that chain of thought.  
Since their arrival back at Nerima and the return to school Ranma had several more intimate encounters with Ukyo, Akane, and Shampoo in the onsen Washu built for them. He was becoming more accustomed to sex, becoming less nervous and shy about it like many times before. Akane had grown out of her own misgivings, she had been raised to wait for marriage before sex, but its temptation proved too great to resist. She was thankful to Washu for teaching Ranma how to control the fertility of his loins at will, an ability that Juraians appeared to possess as a racial trait. What they didn't need right now was a bunch of babies while they still had high school to finish and college classes to start.  
Speaking of college, Akane and Ukyo had already received letters of acceptance to Nerima University, Ranma's letter didn't arrive until some time later. Curiously, it came after the school became affiliated with Tokyo University via a buyout deal. Even more curiously, Nabiki had been deeply involved in some kind of negotiation with unknown parties via telephone for weeks before the deal was announced on the news. She would deny having anything to do with it, but the girls suspected she did since not long after she quickly ran out and bought herself a brand new wardrobe. Now where did all that money come from?  
  
Akane and Ranma squared off in the Tendo dojo. Ranma, for obvious reasons, held back a majority of his power. Akane came at him with a series of punches and kicks aimed at his vital areas. Ranma swiftly blocked each and returned them with his own. Akane dodged most of them, including the Chestnut Fist attack, then surprised Ranma with a similar attack. After being pummeled in the chest eighty times in five seconds he stumbled backwards.  
"Where did you learn Chestnut Fist?" he asked in surprise. "I didn't teach that technique to you yet."  
There was a giggle from somewhere else in the dojo, Ranma turned to see Shampoo sitting on the floor watching them. "No fair teaching her new stuff behind my back." He waved his finger at the Amazon beauty.  
"Shampoo only trying to keep airen on his toes." She laughed.  
"It surprised the hell out of him alright." Akane joined her.  
"Alright, you want to learn new techniques do you." Ranma grinned evilly at Akane. "SAOTOME SCHOOL OF ANYTHING GOES FLYING DRAGON TICKLE TORTURE!!!"  
Akane squealed as Ranma pushed her to the floor and began tickling her with Chestnut Fist speed. "HAHAHAHA!!! STOP!!!! HAHAHAHAHA!!! I'M TICKLISH THERE!!! HAHAHAHAHA!!! RANMA!!! HHAHAHAHAHA!!!! I'LL GET YOU!!! HAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!"  
Ranma leaped off the girl, flipped in mid air and ran out of the dojo. "You gotta catch me first!" Akane composed herself, leapt up and gave chase. Shampoo ran out to watch the spectacle. Ranma was bounding over the rooftops with Akane following close behind, she was catching up to him despite her shorter legs. Of course, Ranma wasn't running at his full speed, or he would have shattered every window for miles with a sonic boom. Giggling and laughing the two fell into the backyard at the Tendo house after making a circuit of the neighborhood. They ended the race with a quick make out session in the grass, when the two came up for air Shampoo raised a sign with the score "9.5" written on it over her head.  
"Would be ten, if Ranma had given Akane more tongue." She said.  
Ranma and Akane looked at each other, nodded, then leapt towards Shampoo. "FLYING DRAGON TICKLE TORTURE REVISED: DOUBLE DRAGON TICKLE ATTACK!!!!"  
"ACK!!! STOP!!! TTTTEEEEEHEHEHEHEHEHE!!!! SHAMPOO TOO TICKLISH!!!! TTTTEEEEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE!!!!! SHAMPOO THINK SHE PISS PANTS!!!!! TTTEEEEEHEHEHEHEHEHE!!!!!"  
They eased of their 'devastating' assault to let the Amazon get up. Kasumi, Soun, and Genma watched the whole thing from the back porch of the house. "They are so much in love, don't you think so father?" Kasumi asked innocently.  
The elder Tendo was wiping tears from his eyes. "Love is a wonderful thing, Kasumi."  
"Grrrr! Those girls are making him soft, that's no way for a martial artist to act!" Genma growled.  
Ranma and the girls went back into the dojo and the sounds of fighting ensued soon after. A few hours later the three came into the house drenched in sweat. Akane was on cloud nine, she was progressing by leaps and bounds at the Art, and Ranma had agreed to start teaching her chi techniques.  
Back in the dojo, moments before, he looked into her eyes and realized for maybe the millionth time just how beautiful Akane really was. "Ya got really good lately Akane, you got Roof Hopping mastered, you can walk on the fence fine, and you already know Chestnut Fist." He told her. "I think you're ready for chi techniques."  
"REALLY?!" Akane cheered.  
"Easy, remember these ain't easy to learn and they can be very dangerous. Watch." Ranma stepped back and concentrated. Akane and Shampoo saw a blue aura surround Ranma, then a wave of intense cold hit them. Moisture on the windows of the dojo condensed and froze into ice, the same happened on Ranma's skin until his arms and chest was covered by a thin coating of frost.  
"BRRR!!! It Soul of Ice Technique!" Shampoo gasped.  
"Feels like a meat locker in here." Akane said shivering, her breath misted air.  
Ranma opened his eyes and shook off the ice off his body. "See what I mean, this stuff can be very dangerous if used improperly, so I'll teach you but lets take things slowly until you get the basics of control."  
"Sounds good to me." She replied, still shivering.  
"Lets warm up with some katas, then maybe Kasumi will have dinner ready by then."  
The two frozen girls nodded and followed him in the motions of the exercise. After several minutes the dojo was warm again and the three were sweating heavily.  
"PEW! You three reek!" Nabiki said holding her nose as the three went past her.  
"Sign of a good workout, you should try it sometime Nabiki." Ranma told her.  
Oh, I'd like to give you a workout alright., Nabiki said to herself. She stopped suddenly realizing what she was just thinking and stamped on her own toe. Bad, Nabiki! Bad Nabiki! If Akane learned you wanted to jump Ranma's bones she's turn you into a living pretzel., she told herself.  
  
The next day at Fureinken High was pretty much no different from the last, Ranma had his predictable confrontation with Kuno, and the rest was just boring. The four sat in Miss. Hinako's class listening to her give a lecture about use of vowels in the English language. Ranma was doing his best to stay awake. Unseen at the back of the class sat Hikaru Gosunkugi, or what the world considered to be Gosunkugi. Kun Lao was fascinated by this strange tongue, English, belonging to nations allied with Japan in this new modern age. He was also fascinated with the interesting creature that taught the class. He'd observed Miss. Hinako's unique ability to absorb battle auras, a skill he also possessed but rarely used. Where was the fun in pummeling an opponent that could not fight back?, he thought. He enjoyed the many months of his new found life, he absorbed knowledge about his new world like a sponge. Back in his day he never dreamed of men walking on the moon, machines journeying to the bottom of the ocean, machines that could think and calculate numbers faster than any human being could, and all of the others incredible wonders science made possible. But, when the time was right he was going to show the world what magic could do, its potential would eclipse the accomplishments of science, and he would be the one to make it possible. Until that time came, he was content to wait, but something more urgent needed his attention first.  
Kun Lao had been without the pleasures of a woman for a very long time, he suppressed his urges as long as he could not wanting to draw unwanted attention until he acclimated himself to his new body better. Now, he was settling into this new host very comfortably, and had been performing various chi body hardening techniques to improve its strength, speed, and endurance. Now, he was ready to answer the urges of his flesh and reward himself for his minor accomplishments. Miss. Hinako, who was at the head of the class, was in her child form. She stopped her lecture, raised her hand towards one of the boys who had fallen asleep.  
"Happoh Fifty Yen Satsu!"  
Kun Lao grinned when the child filled out her skirt and blouse as she took on adult form. In this form she was quite a specimen to behold, long supple legs, ample bosom, long blond hair and a not too unattractive face. Her transformations were brief however, she would soon revert to child form. He couldn't allow that, not yet. The Chi Sorcerer closed his eyes and envisioned the ebb and flow of chi throughout the universe, then focused on this small portion of the world surrounding Miss. Hinako's classroom. He channeled the chi energy around him into a spell, opened his eyes, and pointed his finger at the voluptuous teacher. The spell was silent and devoid of any of the pyrotechnics usually associated with magic, by Kun Lao's own design of course.  
Ranma sat up, he felt something really strange happen just at that moment, a surge of chi energy. He stretched out with his senses trying to tell where it came from, but could not find the source. "Weird." He muttered.  
The end of period bell rang. "Alright, lunchtime!" Ranma cheered, he waited for Akane, Ukyo and Shampoo at the door and they all left together for their usual place out in the school yard. All the students left the room, except for one that nobody even noticed. Hikaru Gosunkugi.  
"Oh, Mr. Gosunkugi, did you have a question about today's lecture?" Miss. Hinako asked him in her deep, sultry tone.  
"Actually, I had something quite different in mind, Miss. Hinako." Kun Lao said in Gosunkugi's voice.  
"If you're looking for extra credit work I do have some verb exercises I can give you."  
"What an interesting idea, but I had a different form of exercise in mind." Miss. Hinako saw the hungry, lustful look in Gosunkugi's eyes, she gasped, and stepped back.  
"Mr. Gosunkugi this is totally inappropriate behavior!" She raised her hands, her fingers forming an "O" for her energy attack. Gosunkugi, or the person who appeared to be him raised his hand, an invisible force pulled the woman's hands apart and locked them down at her sides.  
"I don't think so." He said.  
Miss. Hinako was in a panic, she turned to run, but suddenly felt herself become paralyzed where she stood. "I like it when they struggle, but we need a more secluded place for our entertainment, my dear." Gosunkugi said, lust thick in his voice.  
"Oh, Kami, no Mr. Gosunkugi, you wouldn't, please no, don't!"  
"There is nothing to be afraid of, we're just going to have some fun for a little while." He walked up to her, cupping her generous breasts in his hands, concentrated on the right spell, and teleported himself and Miss. Hinako to another part of the school.  
  
Lunch period was almost over and Ukyo was putting away her portable grill. Ranma finished off his fifth okonomiyaki, and none of the girls were at all surprised. They loved having this free time with the man they loved everyday. Ukyo especially enjoying cooking for the man she adored, and would one day marry. Akane was nibbling on her own second okonomiyaki.  
"After school Shampoo have to go to Nekohautan, great grandmother says Shampoo is getting lazy in her work." Shampoo said.  
"I hear ya, sugar, I haven't been to Ucchan's in over a week." Ukyo told her.  
"That's ok, it'll give me and Akane more time to work out in the dojo." Ranma smiled.  
"You mean more time to 'make out' in the dojo." Ukyo smiled.  
Akane blushed a fierce red. I hope so., she told herself.  
"Hey, you three get equal time with me." Ranma said defensively.  
Ranma was trying his best to give all three of his loves the same amount of attention. It made him wonder how Tenchi was able to handle his five, and thinking about Seina's nine gave him headaches.  
"Ranma honey, you're doing great, and we have nothing to complain about." Ukyo said beaming him a smile. Akane was amazed with herself, she wasn't entirely sure if she could handle sharing Ranma, but after a few months it became like second nature.  
"Anyway, I was going to say this before, the annual Nerima Park Fair is coming up and they're going to have rides and stuff, I thought we could all go together." Ranma suggested.  
"Sounds cool." Akane cheered.  
"Shampoo would love to go."  
The sound of loud sirens pierced the air startling the four. Many of the students still out on the school lawn got up and ran towards the sound. "That sounds like an ambulance, at the front gate to the school." Said Akane. The four got up and hurried to the front of Fureinken High. They arrived to see a mass of students gathered near the front entrance. They squeezed through the throng of students and stopped as a pair of EMTs came out of the building, in between them supported by their arms was Miss. Hinako, in adult form, wrapped in a blanket, crying hysterically.  
"What the hell happened?" Ranma asked, shocked.  
Yuka, one of Akane's schoolmates pushed her way towards the four. "Akane!" she called.  
"Yuka, what's going on?" Akane asked her.  
"Oh, Akane, its awful, somebody raped Miss. Hinako, right inside the school!" The girl was almost in tears.  
"WHAT?!" the four explained in complete disbelief.  
The EMTs put the hysterical teacher on a stretcher inside the ambulance, closed the doors and raced off. Several uniformed and plain clothes Nihon Police officers were working the crowd for information. The school PA system squealed and a female voice announced, "Will all students who attended the 11 am English class in homeroom 1-L please come to the school main office."  
  
Ranma and the girls arrived to see a crowd of their schoolmates from Miss. Hinako's class gathered outside of the school office. A uniform officer let them in one at a time, when it was Ranma's turn the girls gave him a squeeze on the hand and shoulder. Inside a brown haired woman in her thirties wearing women's business clothes was waiting for him. She had a police badge on the breast of her gray blazer.  
"You are Mr. Ranma Saotome, right?" the woman asked.  
"Yes, ma'am." He replied.  
"My name is Lt. Katari Myamara, from the Nihon Police Department, Sex Crimes Division." She extended her hand and Ranma shook it.  
"What were you doing at about five after twelve this afternoon?" she went on to ask.  
"Having lunch on the school lawn with my fiancé and friends." He answered, truthfully.  
"Did you go anywhere immediately after leaving room 1-L?" Lt. Katari asked him.  
"No, we all went straight to lunch." Ranma told her.  
"We've been told of some interesting things concerning your history with Miss. Hinako by some of the students and faculty." Said Lt. Katari. Ranma suppressed a wince, he knew what that history probably entailed especially with that pressure point incident.  
"Hey, wait one damn minute, you can ask my fiancé and her friends and they can tell you I was with them the whole time we had lunch. Her name's Akane Tendo." Ranma said defensively. "I ain't no damn rapist!"  
"If they all corroborate your story Mr. Saotome you have nothing to fear from me, until then I suggest you remain here until my interviews with the students is over." The police woman told him.  
"Fine, but you're wasting your time, I ain't the one who did it." Ranma spat as he took a seat. Akane and the others saw the look on Ranma's face as they were ushered into the room.  
"You are Miss. Akane Tendo, correct?" Lt. Katari said.  
"Yes, I am."  
"I understand you are Mr. Saotome's fiancé?" she asked her.  
"Yes, ma'am, it was arranged by our parents, but we really do care for each other and want to get married eventually." Akane replied. The other two girls remained silent and made no change in their expressions. They decided a long time ago to keep their real relationship with Ranma a secret from the rest of the world after the dinner debacle. It kept things from getting complicated.  
"Was your fiancé with you the entire time from the start of the lunch period until the time we arrived?" Lt. Katari asked her.  
"Yes, he was with all three of us." Akane told her, gesturing to the other two girls.  
"And you are?"  
"Ukyo Kuonji."  
"Xian Pu, exchange student from China."  
"Will all three of you sign an official statement attesting to the fact that Mr. Saotome was not inside of the school building between noon and one o'clock?" the police woman asked. All three girls nodded.  
"Mr. Saotome, it appears I owe you an apology, it's my job to be suspicious especially when sexual assault is concerned." Lt. Katari said to him, a friendly smile on her face now.  
"How did it happen, who found her?" Ranma asked.  
"A janitor found her naked and crying in a broom closet at twelve thirty today, she was so hysterical that we couldn't get any information out of her." Lt. Katari said, concern on her face.  
"Kami, a rapist loose in Fureinken." Ukyo gasped, clamping a hand over her mouth.  
"Obviously our first thought is it must be one of the students." Lt. Katari said. "We will be interview all the student body in the school over the next week."  
"Poor Miss. Hinako." Akane said quietly.  
The police woman took a business card out of her blazer pocket and handed it to Ranma. "Mr. Saotome, if you recall anything out of the ordinary that happened today, anyone who looked like they didn't belong in the school, please call me at my office anytime."  
"Yeah, I'll do that." He said, taking the card.  
"Also, I would suggest you escort your fiancé to and from school for now on, unless you already do that."  
"Uh, we all four walk to school together, we live in the same neighborhood." Ranma replied.  
"Good, we're suggesting students who walk to school, especially girls, travel in groups until we find the person who did this."  
"Sounds reasonable." Said Akane.  
"I'm sorry to be keeping you, I have other students to interview, remember if you see anything strange call me, oh, and the rest of the school day is cancelled by police order so you can all go home." Lt. Katari told them.  
"Thanks, hope you catch the pervert." Ranma replied as they left the room.  
  
Akane, Shampoo, and Ukyo knew something was really bothering Ranma. He wasn't up on the fence as usual, and his eyes were darting around every corner and dark alley they passed. He had his arms folded behind his head, as if he was relaxed, but the expression on his face was anything but.  
"Ranma honey, you look strained."  
"Somebody raped Miss. Hinako." He said.  
"We know." Akane said.  
"No, you don't understand, somebody 'raped' Miss. Hinako, and didn't end up getting blown into next Tuesday." He said.  
"You know something, she drained Daisuke for sleeping in class again, so she was in adult form when we went to lunch, and she was still in adult form when we saw her being taken away in the ambulance." Akane observed.  
"But, I thought her change was like temporary and didn't last very long." Said Ukyo.  
"Shampoo think this is very bad omen."  
"I didn't tell the cops this cause they wouldn't believe me anyway, but I felt something in the room just before the lunch period bell rang." Ranma told them.  
"What was it?" Akane asked.  
"A release of chi energy, silent and invisible, and whoever did it masked it so I couldn't tell where it was coming from." He said. "That takes a very special kind of chi technique mastery to do that."  
"But who else in Fureinken High besides you, Ranma honey, knows how to use chi techniques?" Ukyo asked.  
"Besides me, nobody that I know of."  
"This is bad." Akane commented, slipping her arm around Ranma's waist.  
"Whoever did this was able to take on Miss. Hinako in adult form without getting blasted by her Happoh Coin Return technique." Said Ranma, the worry in his voice was heavy. "That would take somebody with a strong mastery of martial arts and advanced knowledge of chi techniques."  
"Oh Kami, you don't think the little pervert could have done this?" Ukyo asked with a shocked expression.  
"Happosai may be a pervert and a creep, but I can't imagine he'd ever stoop so low as to rape somebody." Akane said.  
"Besides, his thingy is probably way too small." Shampoo laughed. The others joined her, the laughter breaking the dark mood they were in just a little.  
"But seriously, whoever did this has formidable chi and martial arts ability." Ranma warned them. He stopped and turned to them. "For now on, no unescorted trips outside of the Tendo dojo for any of you."  
"Hey, we aren't defenseless little girls!" Akane exclaimed.  
"Neither was Miss. Hinako and look what happened to her." Ukyo told her.  
"You got a point, sorry Ranma." Akane said shyly.  
He hugged her and kissed her on the forehead. "It's ok, lets get home before the sun goes down."  
  
"We're home!" the four called from the entryway as they took of their shoes.  
Kasumi poked her head out from the kitchen. "Oh, you're all home early, I didn't know you were having a half a day."  
"Something happened at the school, we were let out early." Akane told her.  
"Oh my, I hope it wasn't serious."  
Ranma looked at the three girls and turned to Kasumi. "Somebody, attacked and raped one of the teachers during lunch period." He told her.  
"OH KAMI, NO!" Kasumi shouted in shock.  
"Uh oh, we forgot about Nabiki!" Akane realized.  
The girl in question poked her head into the room. "I'm already home, a cop gave me a ride, he owed me some money."  
"Who doesn't?" Ranma rolled his eyes.  
"I'll ignore that Saotome, for a fee."  
"Did you say a teacher was raped at the school?" Genma asked as he stomped into the room.  
"Yeah, Miss. Hinako." Ranma told him.  
Genma raised his fist and sent Ranma flying across the room. "I'm disappointed in you boy, I raised you better than to take advantage of a girl like that!"  
"HEY, WHY DOES EVERYBODY THINK I'M THE ONE WHO DID IT!?" Ranma yelled back at him after recovering from the blow, and pulling himself out of the Ranma shaped depression on the wall.  
"Ranma was with us during lunch period, the police suspected him too, but we cleared him." Akane explained.  
"The only reason why that stuff with her happened before was because I was trying to hit her pressure points to stop her powers." Ranma explained. "Its all Happosai's fault she has them in the first place."  
"Did somebody say my name?"  
The group turned to see the diminutive pervert in his usual peeping tom outfit holding a bag of recently acquired panties. "What?!" he said seeing them stare at him.  
"Were you anywhere near Fureinken High today?" Akane asked him, afraid that Ranma's suspicions about the man were true. She would never be able to live in a house knowing a rapist lived with her.  
"No, I was over near the university today." He said. "Why?"  
"Somebody raped Miss. Hinako and did it without getting blasted into next week." Ranma told him.  
A look of intense rage crossed the old pervert's face. "Someone hurt my little Hinako-chan!!!!" His battle aura surged into life with fierce intensity. The old pervert had a soft spot in his black heart for the girl, he befriended her and taught her the devastating Happoh Five Yen Satsu to help her heal herself, she was in a hospital for the terminally ill and not expected to live much longer, but it saved her life. The whole thing backfired later on, and turned her into a vampire who was addicted to battle auras.  
"I'll kill the bastard who hurt my little Hinako-chan, I'll castrated the son-of-a-bitch!!!!" Happosai continued to rave.  
"Geeze, I've never seen him this pissed off." Akane gasped.  
"We don't know who did it." Ranma told him.  
The little pervert turned and bound out of the house. "I'll find the bastard and make him pay with his life!!!"  
"I'd hate to be the guy who did it to her." Ukyo commented.  
  
School was cancelled for the rest of the week so the police could interview the rest of the students. It turned into a real media circus, and was on the news almost every night. Ranma and Akane took the free time to continue their training and to teach her chi techniques. Nabiki, meanwhile, got her group together.  
"Ok, girls, this is serious, we got a real creep wandering around our school." Nabiki told them. They all nodded in agreement.  
"I need info on all of the new freshmen students, most of all I want to know if they study martial arts, that is the most important thing." She went on. They nodded in acknowledgement.  
"No heroics, don't put yourselves into undue danger, this creep raped Miss. Hinako, and you know how tough she can be." Again the girl nodded in understanding.  
"I need that info by this time tomorrow, met here at my house since school is closed until next week, and I'll give you extra for hazard pay on top of the usual rate." Nods all around.  
"Get going, remember, tomorrow at this time."  
  
Kun Lao sat in his bedroom at Gosunkugi's house and wondered about the events that took place after his episode with the lovely Miss. Hinako. He didn't anticipate the speedy reaction of the local authorities. In his day and age he could do as he pleased, take who he wanted, and nobody was the wiser or dared to question why. Today in this modern age crime was taken seriously, the police were everywhere, and they used many new modern technique to locate those responsible for those crimes. The concept of DNA finger printing was new to him, but he could understand the simplicity of the concept. The building blocks of life, how quaint. He looked at the vial filled with a white, mucus like substance and the manila folder he took from the police station shortly after the investigation started. The vial was labeled, "Sperm Sample". It had been extracted from inside of Miss. Hinako by the hospital, the folder contained other information. He held both up, summoned the proper spell, and they disintegrated into a thin cloud of gray smoke. He had also gone to the hospital where Miss. Hinako was admitted. She was under police guard, but that didn't matter. The officer assigned to watch her door never noticed him walk right by and enter the room. The lovely woman was asleep, it took all of his will not to take her a second time. He reached under the covers and pressed his hand to her groin, all remaining evidence of his seed within her vanished without a trace. He then shifted his hand to her forehead, she saw him, knew who he was, he saw it in her memories, it would not do for her to announce to the world that Hikaru Gosunkugi had done this to her. He had to find a way to cover his tracks, so he manipulated her memory. He recalled some of the more savory publications Gosunkugi liked, the Hentai Manga, they were called. An image he liked from one of them entered his mind, it was a one-eyed tentacle monster. It has its many tentacles wrapped around a young girl in a school girl's uniform, her face was contorted in an expression of horror and ecstasy as one of the tentacles took advantage of her more interesting areas.  
It was this that he implanted into the woman's mind, erasing the image of himself, and replacing it with a false memory of a monster attacking and raping her. He had noticed the reaction from the one called Ranma Saotome, a boy of considerable martial arts and chi technique ability. He knew one day he would face this formidable man, who was rumored to have killed the God of Phoenix Mountain, Saffron. After sending a spectral eye to the site of the rumored battle, Kun Lao was surprised to find the rumors were true. Phoenix Mountain had been reduced to a pile of rubble, and Saffron's powerful presence could no longer be felt. Ranma sensed him release the chi energy, but because he masked it he could not find out who released it. He wasn't ready to face someone as powerful as him, not yet. He needed a way to distract the boy from figuring out it was he who did this, and this was an excellent way to do it.  
Kun Lao reached under the mattress of his bed and pulled out the manga in question. He flipped through the pages, the images on them aroused him, until he reached the one he was looking for. He took it to the desk, picked up a short strip of paper, and drew runes on it in the ancient language of chi magic. With the runes complete he touched the paper to the image of the tentacle monster in the manga. The image of the monster wavered, then the tentacles began to writhe about. Kun Lao closed his eyes, and began to chant the ancient works of the spell. "NIKTU KLAKSU MAKATA OBATA SA YETA SHATO!!!! AWAKEN AND HEED MY CALL, SPAWN TO LIFE, HEAR MY CALL, FROM THE DEPTHS OF THE NINE RINGS OF HELL I SUMMON THEE, RAKSHAZA!!! DEMON OF LUST, ARISE AND OBEY!!!!"  
A bright light erupted from the runes and the pages of the manga. A whirlwind raced through the bedroom tossing books about and throwing papers every which way. A sound like the clash of thunder filled the air, then the manga caught fire, burning along the outline of the monster's shape on the page until it was gone and the rest of the page remained untouched. Soon, the wind died down, and Kun Lao staggered backwards reeling from the force of the spell he just cast. In the distance he could feel the presence of the malevolence he just released upon the mortal plain. It was where he wanted it to be, the high school. A wicked smile crossed his lips and he laughed manically.   
That night he made his way out of the house, the parents of the foolish boy he inhabited didn't even notice him leave, even if they looked directly in his general direction. He walked some distance, making sure to put some considerable distance between his house and where he was going. He found what he was looking for, a pretty young girl was carrying a bag of garbage out to the dumpster in her back yard. She looked to be about the age of many of the girls from school, and was quite lovely. He reached out with his chi powers, touched her mind, her name was Ikara, he could tell this the moment he touched her consciousness. It took little effort to manipulate her thoughts and lure her from her home to a secluded dark alley. Remembering his mistake with Miss. Hinako, he would not allow this one to have any memory of what took place. He took her in the tall grass behind a shed until his urges were satisfied, removed any evidence of his seed, and sent her home with no memory of anything that transpired. On his way back to his home, he sensed the presence of another desirable young girl, and delayed his return home to repeat what he did with Ikara.  
  
Ranma sat upright in bed, he could feel it, a powerful burst of intense chi energy, but again it was masked. It was somewhere in the city, and it was immense in scale. It was almost as if Ryoga had let loose the mother of all Shi Shi Hokodan's, but all he could hear outside of his window was the sound of the city at night. He threw the cover aside and went out into the hallway, there was no sound in the house. He went downstairs to get himself something to drink, a soda maybe, and he needed to think. He knew whoever did those chi bursts was the one who raped Miss. Hinako, but he could not prove it without hard evidence. He certainly couldn't tell the police, they'd try to lock him up in a mental ward. As he left the stairs he noticed somebody was already awake and sitting in the dinning room.  
Nabiki couldn't sleep, the dreams of her in Ranma's arms, their bodies moving against one another was too much for her. She felt as if she was going crazy, insane. She looked up at the sound of somebody coming down the stairs.  
Oh, Kami, it's Ranma, what the hells do I do now?, she asked herself. In her state she was likely able to do anything, even rape him if she didn't keep a rein on herself. He went into the kitchen, grabbed a couple of cans of cola, and joined her at the table.  
"Couldn't sleep?" he asked her, handing her a can.  
"No." she replied.  
"Me neither."  
They sat quietly together, Ranma sipped his soda quietly, thinking about what he felt upstairs. Suddenly, Nabiki throw her arms around his waist shocking the hell out of him and making him spit his drink across the room.  
"Nabiki, what the-"  
"I can't take it anymore!!!" she cried, burying her face into his chest.  
"Uh, oh, umm, can't take what anymore?" he asked her nervously.  
"Make it stop, I can't eat, I can't sleep without thinking about it!!!"  
There came a sound from the stairs, Akane rubbed her eyes, she had heard the sound and came into the dinning room. When she saw Nabiki clamped onto Ranma her jaw dropped, then when she saw the girl's tears she immediately became concerned.  
"Ranma, what happened?" she asked.  
"I-I-I don't know, she just glomped onto me and started wailing."  
"Nabiki, wants wrong, whatever it is we'll help you with it, please tell us." Akane pleaded with her distraught sister.  
Nabiki tightened her grip on Ranma and shouted at top of her lungs with every ounce of courage and will she could muster, "PLEASE FORGIVE ME AKANE, I WANT TO BE WITH RANMA TOO!!!!!"  
Akane's eyes went as wide as sauce pans and her face turned as white as a ghost. The upstairs hall light came on and Ukyo and Shampoo came down groaning about people making noises in the middle of the night.  
"I-uh-I-I mean-" Ranma stammered, his brain experiencing the equivalent of a Federation Starship warp core breach.  
  
The girls sat around the table listening to a sobbing Nabiki tell her tale of how her dreams and daydreams of Ranma began sometime before their return home from Ohkayama. Ranma was grateful that Akane hadn't hit him into next week. He was also happy she didn't give Nabiki the mallet treatment also. The girl was being almost understanding about the whole thing. Ranma wasn't sure what to make of it all. So, for a long time now Nabiki has been having nasty dreams about him, even during the day. She desired him, bad. So bad that she kept it a secret all this time out of fear of what would happen to her. Finally, it had become too much for her to handle, and she had to tell.  
"Wow, and I thought I was obsessing over Ranma." Ukyo commented.  
"Ukyo!" Akane scolded her.  
"Please don't hurt me, Akane, please, I love him, I want to be his wife too." Nabiki was pouring tears from her eyes, she wasn't acting like herself, it was like she was another person.  
"I'd never hurt you Nabiki." Akane told her.  
"What we do?" Shampoo asked.  
"Its up to Ranma honey." Ukyo said.  
"Me?"  
"Yes, sugar, you're the one in the driver's seat here."  
"But-"  
"What's with the noise, can't a genius sleep." Came a voice from the other room. Washu walked out of the closet door rubbing her eyes. She took in the scene before her and the gears started turning. She joined them and listened as Akane recount Nabiki's tale.  
"Oh damn, I forgot to warn you girls about that." She said.  
"Warn us about what?" the three girls asked in unison.  
"Heh, well, you see Tsunami has been manipulating the bloodlines of the Jurai Royal Family for centuries." Washu explained. "The end result was Tenchi's birth, Ranma was unexpected, but not unwanted. In order to ensure that the strongest Juraian males mated with as many powerful women as possible she modified the physiology of the males. Their energy coronas act as an attractor to females who possess elevated amount of Jurai energy, all Juraians possess this energy, but only the royals can use it."  
"Wait, but we're not Juraian." Akane told her.  
"Ah, but good old Katsuhito has been having little kiddies with several wives over the seven hundred years he's lived on Earth, and Earth was a colony of Jurai thousands of years before that." Washu explained. "A fair amount of the Japanese population has a small amount of Juraian blood, its likely one of your ancestors was related to someone from Jurai."  
"So, Nabiki is infatuated with Ranma because of his Jurai power?" Ukyo asked.  
"Yup, but also other mental factors effect how a female is effected." Washu went on. "I am a female, but I won't be effected by Ranma's energy because I'm already in sync with Tenchi's wave patterns. The same goes for Ryoko, Aeka, Sasami, Mihoshi, and Ryo-Ohki."  
"But someone not synced with someone's wave patterns, like Nabiki here, will be attracted to him like bugs to a bug zapper." She continued.  
"Isn't there a drug or something to stop it from effecting her?" Akane asked.  
"There is only one way to stop it." Washu told her, her face serious.  
"What?" the girls and Ranma all asked her at once.  
"She has to become in sync with him, or the effect of the corona will drive her insanity." She said.  
"And, that means?" Akane asked, wishing the little genius would get to the point.  
"He's gotta boink her."  
The three girls face faltered, and a trickle of blood ran down Ranma's nose. "You gotta be kidding." Ukyo said, being the first to recover from the shock.  
"As a Prince of Jurai he can marry how many wives he wants, so it's up to Ranma if he wants to add her to his little collection. He doesn't actually have to boink her, but since he's already had all of you, well-" Washu smiled like a Cheshire cat.  
"UH-" By this time Ranma's brain resembled scrambled eggs.  
"We really gotta think about this." Akane said, unsure about the whole situation.  
"Ranma honey, we don't wanna pressure you, its up to you, ok." Ukyo told him, but she wasn't sure if she really wanted Nabiki to be his fourth fiancé.  
Akane wasn't sure what to think. She remembered the abuse she gave Ranma when he was her fiancé for a short time once. Would he be able to overlook that, could she handle this? Everything was happened too much too fast, first Miss. Hinako's attack, now this.  
Shampoo liked Nabiki, she respected a strong woman, and Nabiki was one of the strongest she knew. It wasn't a physical strength, it was a strength of the heart. The young girl was the only thing keeping the family from being thrown out on the street, using her considerable skills to keep the bills paid while her father wallowed in his own self-pity after his wife's death. Such strength of character and honor deserved to be acknowledged and cherished.  
"Shampoo have no problem with it." She said.  
"Ranma honey." Ukyo waved her hand in front of Ranma's face, but there was nobody home.  
"Akane, look Ranma's out of it, what do you say?" Ukyo asked her.  
"Well." Akane pursed her lips then look at her sister who was still clinging to Ranma.  
"Nabiki, if we give the ok to this, there will be some rules." Akane told her sternly. "For one, no taking advantage of him, no exploitation of his curse unless he is ok with it, no trying to sell him like you did before, and you are to treat him with all the love and respect we treat him with."  
"I promise." Nabiki said, whipping tears from her eyes.  
"Swear it on the honor or our mother's memory." Akane told her.  
"I swear on the honor of our mother's memory." Nabiki replied. Akane knew Nabiki would never break such a promise, they both loved their mother deeply and missed her twice as much.  
"Ok, I guess you're in sugar." Ukyo told her.  
"I-I-I-I-I-" Ranma stammered, his brain still not quite responding yet.  
  
Ranma woke up the next morning hoping what happened last night to be all a bad dream. When he saw Nabiki sitting with the girls downstairs waiting for breakfast he knew it wasn't.  
"Morning, Ranma." They all chorused.  
"Uh, Nabiki, listen, about last night-" he started to say.  
"Ranma, I was a real bitch to you in the past, I used you, took advantage of you, blackmailed you, all sorts of stuff." She said.  
"Your point is?"  
"I want to make it all up to you, I want to prove my feelings are real, I want you to trust me." She said it in a meek tone, totally uncharacteristic of Nabiki Tendo.  
"Well, I, uh, do care about you Nabiki." He said.  
"Please, give me a chance!" she pleaded, grabbing his arm.  
"I guess it wouldn't hurt, it would probably make Aeka happy." He commented.  
"I can just imagine what daddy's gonna say." Akane muttered.  
"Speaking of daddy, where is he?" Nabiki asked.  
"I haven't seen him or Mr. Saotome since they got up this morning." Ukyo told them.  
"Listen, I got my girls gathering info on all the freshmen at Fureinken to see which of them has any martial arts backgrounds." Nabiki told them.  
"Is not that job of police?" Shampoo asked.  
"If this guy is what Ranma thinks he is the police are dead meat if they try to catch him." Nabiki explained.  
"I gotta agree with her." Said Ranma. "I felt a really powerful release of chi energy last night, immense, I mean really immense, but masked like before."  
"Maybe Shampoo and Ranma should speak to great grandmother."  
"The old ghoul probably felt the same thing last night like I did." Ranma said.  
"I could check the police scanner to see if there were any more incidents." Nabiki suggested.  
"I'd like to go visit Miss. Hinako too, maybe she can tell us what happened." Ranma told them. The girls nodded in agreement. "But, no going out alone, understand me." He waved his finger at them.  
Akane folded her arms across her chest, for a moment the old Akane was surfacing, but one look at the fear and concern on his face made it fade away. "I promise." She said.  
"Me too, Ranma honey."  
"Shampoo promise."  
"So do I, and I'm not even going to charge you for it."  
"Gee, thanks."  
  
The Nekohautan, a.k.a. the Cat Café, was just opening for business when Ranma and Shampoo arrived. Several of the Amazon waitresses were washing the table in preparation for the lunch crowd that would be coming in soon. They smiled when they saw the two enter. In the back, balancing on her cane, was Cologne busily cooking ramen. She sensed her great granddaughter and Ranma enter the building and turned to smile at them.  
"This isn't really a social call." Ranma told the old woman.  
"We're here about what happened at the high school." He went on.  
Cologne nodded. "I heard the unfortunate news, such things should never happen to any woman."  
"I think whoever did it is a very powerful martial artist." Ranma told her. Cologne nodded. "I feel a presence in the city, malevolent, and powerful." Her tone was serious.  
"I was wondering if you knew of anyone who might possibly do something like this?" Ranma asked her.  
Cologne shook her head. "None, but the presence I sense I fear is not mortal."  
"It feels, like, like the essence of a demon." She went on.  
"A demon." It made sense to the Saotome youth, perhaps it wasn't a powerful martial artist who did it after all. A demon, if it was powerful enough, could have taken on Miss. Hinako. He had to be certain, if it was a demon the cops investigating the assault were potentially in a deadly situation, deadly for the cops that is.  
"Are you absolutely certain?" he asked her.  
Cologne nodded. "I have a great deal of previous experience with demons, son-in-law."  
"Only way to know for sure is we talk to teacher at hospital." Shampoo interjected.  
Ranma ran his hand through his hair. "This detective stuff is giving me a headache."  
"Beware, son-in-law, even the weakest of demons are nothing to trifle with, tread lightly when dealing with them." Cologne offered her sage advice with a tone of concern.  
Ranma was well aware of how powerful demons were, even the weakest of their kind. "I'll remember that, granny."  
  
Soun Tendo and Genma Saotome walked through the streets of Nerima with nervous expressions on their faces. They approached a rather unassuming house, it looked somewhat like the Tendo home, but was just a little smaller. Genma approached the front door and rang the door chimes. They were just the way he remembered them. Soun stayed back at bit, wringing his hands. The sound of a lock being undone on the inside came through the door, and then it opened revealing a rather strikingly beautiful middle aged woman in a floral print kimono.  
"Husband, this is a surprise." The woman said.  
"Hello Nodoka."  
"Nr. Tendo, I see you are doing well."  
"Thank you Mrs. Saotome." The elder Tendo replied nervously.  
The woman ushered the two inside and retreated to the kitchen. She returned with a silver tray and a tea service. "Why the unexpected visit?" she asked them as she finally settled down in one of her sitting room chairs.  
"Its about Ranma." Said Genma.  
Nodoka eyes lit up. "Is he coming here?"  
"No, he still thinks your deceased." Genma told her, and the woman sank back down onto her seat. "Actually, we came to tell you he's getting married."  
"I already know of the marriage agreement between the clans, Genma." She waved at him dismissively.  
"No, he's marrying my daughter Akane, but he's also marrying Ukyo Kuonji, and that Amazon girl Shampoo." Soun explained.  
Nodoka's face brightened up like a radiant lamp. "My son is marrying Akane, and having two concubines!" she cheered. "Oh how manly our son has become."  
"We've seen Katsuhito." Genma came out suddenly.  
"My-My father, when did you see him?" Nodoka asked nervously.  
"He invited all of us to his place last summer to meet Ranma's cousin, Kiyone's son Tenchi, and to bring the two families back together."  
Nodoka was shocked, she knew of her father as a stubborn man, she never knew he's ever change his opinions so completely. "Does he forgive me?"  
"Only because he thinks your dead." Genma nodded.  
"I learned he was trying to find my whereabouts and I had my people send him a false death certificate." Nodoka said.  
"That was just before he found us." Genma told her. "Nodoka, Kiyone passed away many years ago."  
Nodoka suppressed the tears that threatened to come to her eyes. Her beloved little sister was gone, and she never knew. "I see." Was all she said.  
"I did just come to tell you this stuff, I came because of the agreement." Genma said.  
Nodoka reached around behind her chair and pulled out an ancient but well kept katana sword. "From what you have said Ranma has kept his end of the agreement quite well, husband."  
The two men appeared relax a little, just a little. "We came to also ask if you still intend to go through with what you told us last year?" Soun asked.  
"I haven't seen my boy in over ten years Mr. Tendo, he's lived all his life thinking I'm dead, plus there is this hanging over my head, I want to put as many of the barriers between us to rest." When she spoke of something hanging over hear head Nodoka raised the katana slightly. "The Seppuku Agreement was my husband's idea, I really didn't want my Ranma to be taken from me, but the agreement was a matter of honor and I have little choice."  
"Well, he's certain become one heck of a man." Mr. Tendo said, smiling and scratching the back of his head.  
"That is why I want to meet my son, eventually, soon perhaps." Nodoka told them.  
"Tenchi is coming to live in Nerima at the Tendo place to attend college this fall." Genma told her. Nodoka brightened. "Kiyone's son, really, he's going to be here?"  
Soun and Genma both nodded. The two decided not to tell her about her father's unusual origins. The old priest had already told them she didn't know about Jurai, and she would likely not believe them. She would have to find out on her own, and when she learned Ranma was a Prince then maybe she could overlook the one thing that made the two men nervous, Ranma's curse.  
"Well, then, I do it this fall then when the two of them are both here in Nerima, and then I can work on seeing my father again."  
Soun looked at his watch. "Mrs. Saotome, we have to get back, I don't want to leave my little girls alone too long."  
"Oh yes, I heard about what happened at Fureinken High, terrible."  
"Ranma's making the girls stay in the house unless he's with them." Soun told her.  
Nodoka nodded in approval. "Like a good man, protecting his loved ones."  
"Thanks for the tea." Genma said as he stood.  
Outside the two men sighed with some relief. "That went better than I figured." Genma commented.  
"Maybe she will forget the agreement." Said Soun.  
"That woman, I didn't expect her to take that things this seriously."  
"You are the one who suggested it, Saotome."  
"Yeah, but I didn't really mean we'd actually commit seppuku for real."  
"That katana looks real to me."  
Genma took off his glasses and ran his hand down his sweaty face. "I just hope that boy of mine doesn't hold a grudge when he learns I lied about his mom being dead."  
"That would be a bad thing." Soun replied, knowing that Ranma was now superior to Genma by leaps and bounds because of his Jurai power.  
  
It was the night before school was to start up again, and everyone decided to go to bed early. Ranma climbed into his bed, a real bed and not a tami mat or a bed roll like when he shared a room with his father for over a year. He wasn't sure how long he'd been asleep, but something woke him up. Ranma knew he slept like a log, and almost nothing short of a cold splash of water would revive him from his slumber. Yet, recently even the slightest disturbance around him was awakening him. The feeling of chi energy being released the other night was one case, and tonight was another. Somebody entered his room and climbed into his bed with him. They were right next to him now. He didn't move, or open his eyes, he could feel the person moving and they weren't very heavy. A warm body moved close to his and an arm draped over him. He could feel who soft mounds press into his chest. It was one of the girls, but he didn't know which one. Ranma hadn't gotten good enough yet at sensing auras to know who it was yet.  
"Hi." He said softly, and the person next to him stiffened.  
Ranma opened his eyes and let them adjust to the darkness. He could not really see the girl's face in the dim light of his bedroom, but he could make out the outline of her bowl-shaped hairstyle.  
"Nabiki?"  
The figure started to get up. "I'm sorry, I'm taking things to fast aren't I-" she started to say. Ranma reached out, drew her into his arms, and brought her back onto the bed.  
"Remember that day we were alone in the dojo together?" she asked.  
"Yeah."  
"Remember when you feel on me and I took that picture?"  
"I remember, you tried to blackmail me with it."  
"At the same time, I-I-I wished what happened was real." He could see her look away although even though he couldn't see her face clearly in the dark.  
"I've liked you longer than before we made the trip to Ohkayama, before your powers started to manifest." She admitted.  
"I thought you said-" she turned back around the put a finger to his lips.  
"It took that for me to realize how I really felt, I mistook my feelings for a desire to want to exploit you, but after Ohkayama I realized it was a different kind of desire." She was sounding more like the Nabiki he knew. Ranma was deeply hurt by the way she treated him in the past, what happened when they were briefly engaged, and the incident when they were alone one night at the dojo. Conflicting thoughts and emotions washed through Ranma's head at that moment as he held Nabiki in his arms. He was torn between giving her the benefit of the doubt and trying to forge a relationship with her, or refusing her out of distrust.  
"Please don't hate me, I know you have every reason to hate me, but I couldn't live with myself if you do." She added, her voice breaking a little.  
"I don't hate you." He told her truthfully.  
Nabiki snuggled close to his chest and put her arm around him again.  
Ranma's inner self struggled, but quickly he made a decision. "Nabiki."  
She looked up at him, barely able to see him in the dim light.  
"What you did to me in the past really hurt, it hurt me bad, but I'm willing to give you the benefit of the doubt." He told her.  
She tightened her grip and buried her face into his chest. Ranma felt her body start to shake as she wept. All he could do was hold her gently until her sobs stopped. It was some time before she ceased and wiped her eyes.  
"I sometimes wonder what would have happened if I were your fiancé from the beginning." Nabiki said.  
"Who knows, maybe we would have gotten along better than I did with Akane." He told her, also wondering the same thing, but also at same he was glad that Akane was his fiancé anyway.  
"Some Ice Queen I am, huh?" she sighed wiping more tears from her eyes. "More like Melted Ice Queen."  
"I never did like that nickname the goys at school gave you, even after all the stuff you did to me." Ranma replied sincerely.  
Nabiki squeeze him tight, resting her head on his shoulder. "I'm so sorry I hurt you, I promise never to ever hurt you like that ever again." Ranma was surprised that was believing her. She was opening up to him like she had never opened to him before, and she was telling him the truth. She once told him she loved him, back when they were engaged for a short time, but it hadn't been real. Now, now it was real. He hoped it was real. Nabiki wasn't an altogether unattractive girl, she was in fact very beautiful, had a shapely figure, generous bust, and very long, supple legs. He remembered seeing her in that black dress that barely covered her on Togenkyo Island, the one she wore for Prince Toma's Martial Arts Married Contest. She was, she was gorgeous, a goddess. Akane was cute too in that Roman Princess style dress, but Nabiki was more than cute, she was sexy and alluring.  
For some reason that never dawned on Ranma until now. He knew the girls were pretty, even Shampoo, but their beautiful never effected him like it does now. He chalked it all up to his 'encounter' with Akane in Washu's lab. That one experience opened him up to the pleasures that could be had with the species called "woman". He could remember very little of that day, that moment, except for perhaps that his mind and body were subjected to sensations that were beyond anything he'd ever experienced before. Ever since that day the thought of being intimate with Akane or any other girls wasn't so-difficult-to envision without suffering a massive hemorrhage in his nose. It was like that one experience opened the door for him to a whole new world to explore. The world of sexual intimacy. He was intimate with Akane, Ukyo, and Shampoo. He enjoyed every minute of every second with them. Yet, sex was just a piece single piece of the jigsaw puzzle of love that formed the building blocks of his relationship with the three girls. As he held Nabiki, it dawn on Ranma that there was more than enough room in his life for one more love.  
Ranma leaned forward and kissed Nabiki's hair. She looked at him in surprise and didn't shy away when he kissed her on the forehead. He shifted her around, laying on his back and bringing up onto this chest, then pulled her up until they were face to face. Their lips met in a tender, passionate kiss that made the world fall away around them so that all could perceive was their own bodies held close to one another. Nabiki felt her heart racing in her chest. She wanted desperately to ravish him right there and then without abandon, but she was too afraid her forwardness might drive him away. The clouds outside had parted some, and the light of the full moon flooded the bedroom so now Ranma could see Nabiki's face more clearly. He could see the hunger in her eyes, he recognized that look, and he'd seen it many times in the eyes of the other girls. Ranma slowly ran his hands down the sides of Nabiki's body to gauge her reaction. The touch sent shivers down Nabiki's spin and her body shuddered slightly. Ranma smiled when he felt it, he moved his hands to the middle of her back and ran them down her spin. His experience with Akane, Ukyo, and Shampoo told him that girls were very sensitive there. If he ran his hand down their back ever so lightly it seemed to jumpstart their sexual drive into turbo mode. He remembered do it to Shampoo after getting a reaction out of Akane, and the Amazon sigh and shivered before literally raping him in an uncontrolled burst of sexual lust. So, he moved his hand slowly down Nabiki's back.  
He saw her head lean backwards, she loved her eyes, and from her lips came a soft moan. Ranma contemplated calling this his Saotome Anything Goes Instant Horny Girl Technique, but then realized with horror what Happosai would do with such a technique. The thought of it almost ruined the mood, almost.  
Slowly he slid his hands to her buttocks, remarking at their smooth roundness. He brought them back up along her sides, every so slightly touching her, and his fingers grazed the sides of her generous breasts.  
"Oh Ranma." Nabiki sighed as her body twitched.  
"You like that?" he asked softly.  
She moved down slight and started to kiss him on the neck. "I loved it." She whispered. This brought to the surface an interesting, not unpleasant, and altogether not unwelcome sensation to Ranma's body.  
"Are we taking things too fast?" she asked him, looking into his eyes.  
"I'm willing to, if you are." He told her softly. "If you really want to."  
Nabiki literally melted into his embrace. Ranma was opening himself to her, freely giving himself to her to make love to her. The soft ministrations of Ranma's hands were only fueling the flames that were already raging out of control inside of her. Nabiki didn't even waste the time to answer him, the fire within her was too great and she acted by instinct alone. In one swift motion to pull off her night shirt, exposing her generous endowments for her love to admire and hopefully fondle. She wasn't to be disappointed as Ranma's hands, surprisingly soft for the hands of a martial artist, slowly made their way to her chest. As his hands encircled her mounds she gasped as a shock ran though her. Nabiki frantically grabbed the front of Ranma's nightshirt and began to undo the buttons. In seconds she had his shirt off and was working the thin rope that tied his pajama trousers. With soft motions Ranma slipped Nabiki's pajama pants and panties off and dropped them onto the floor. Nabiki moved and felt something against her leg that told her Ranma was now quite aroused.  
The fire was intense and was building with every second. Ranma was quite ready to lead in this dance of ecstasy, but before he could draw Nabiki down onto the bed she sprang into action. Nabiki raised herself up into position and made her move. Ranma's surprise was coupled with a sensation that made him suddenly see stars. Pure animal lust was what drove Nabiki, brief pain from loosing one's virginity quickly gave way to indescribable pleasure. Her body knew no pain, no fatigue as she moved in the rhythmic dance of desire. Without conscious though Ranma's hands lovingly delivered tender ministrations to Nabiki's body and her soft endowments. They had no perception of time or anything else around them, just the two coupled together drinking the sweet intoxicating juices of ecstasy.  
Neither knew how much time went by. It seemed like an eternity had passed. Suddenly, immense, crushing fatigue struck Nabiki. She collapsed onto Ranma's bare chest and was immediately wrapped in his loving arms. Both panted for breath, their hearts racing, and their blood roaring in their ears. They stayed that way for every minutes, the sweat on their bodies began to cool until they started to get cold. Ranma reached out and pulled a blanket over them, and slowly laid Nabiki on the bed next to him.  
"I love you Ran-" she began to say in a whisper, but she was so exhausted that her words were lost as she immediately feel into the depths of sleep.  
Ranma kissed her forehead, feeling his own body calling out desperately for rest. He drew her into his embrace, snuggling up close to her body, then closed his eyes and let his own fatigue pull him down into unconsciousness. He didn't have to wait long.   
  
Ranma and his fiancés were returning to school for the first time in a week. Walking beside them was a young girl, about Akane's age, with reddish pink hair, and a Fureinken girl's uniform. Next to her, his hand over her shoulder, was a handsome young man with short black hair, and wearing a Fureinken boy's school uniform.  
"A demon you say." Washu said scratching her chin.  
"That's what Cologne said." Ranma replied.  
"I could take readings of the school grounds, find out if there are any residual energy particles."  
"How is the teacher?" Tenchi asked.  
"She's still in the hospital, but they say she can leave in a few days." Said Akane. "We went to see her the other day and what she told us was weird."  
"Oh?" Washu closed on eye and looked at the girl curiously.  
"Yeah, she said she was attacked by one of them tentacle things you see in those hentai anime." Ukyo explained.  
"A hentai tentacle monster!" Tenchi gasped.  
"Weird, huh?" Ranma told him.  
"That's why I asked the two of you to help, this thing took on Miss. Hinako by itself." Ranma went on. "Ever 'I' had trouble dealing with her."  
"Well, Ranma, if it's some kind of monster, you can be sure it will not get past my instruments." Washu smiled smugly.  
"Its pretty good at masking the chi energy it releases." Ranma warned her.  
"Oh, my equipment is way too sensitive for that to work more than once."  
"Shampoo hope you right, great grandmother once fought demon, very powerful, very deadly."  
Nabiki hadn't left Ranma's side since that morning, she was holding his left arm as they went down the street. "Be careful Ranma, please."  
The girls looked at her. The bright glow on the girl's face despite her worried expression told them all they needed to know of what happened last night. It wasn't hard to tell what was going on, with all the screaming, most of it being done by Nabiki herself.  
"I will, but I don't want any of you walking off alone anywhere in the school." He said.  
"Don't you worry about that, sugar, the only one who's gonna touch this body is you, Ranma honey." Ukyo replied, gesturing to the huge Baker's Peel slung over her back.  
"That's all well and good, but Nabiki is the only one of you who isn't a martial artist." Ranma explained.  
"Shampoo and others watch over her." Shampoo interjected.  
The gate to the high school came into view. There were several students milling about, some giving the newcomers appraising looks. The girls looked at Tenchi with interest while the boys gawked in awe at the girl who walked with him. Some immediately beat a hasty retreat as one particular student walked into view. He swung his bokken out, its tip came within a hair's breath of Tenchi's face.  
"Hold, fowl monster, enemy of women!" Kuno roared.  
"No now." Ranma groaned.  
"Like your deranged relative you too seek to enchant and ensnare beautiful women of Fureinken High." Kuno continued on, taking a regal pose.  
"I, Tatawaki Kuno, the rising star of the Keno world, the Blue Thunder of Fureinken High, and defender of the innocent virginal purity of the lovely ladies of his educational establishment will rain righteous fury upon your countenance of evil!"  
Akane whispered into Ranma's ear, "His lines are getting better, not!"  
By this time it was clear to the other students that Kuno was challenging the new kid. Washu could clearly hear, via her advanced micro sized technology, all the comments made by the students around them.  
"Hey, Kuno's challenging the new kid!"  
"He's kinda cute."  
"That girl with the pink hair is a babe."  
"I wouldn't mind a roll in the hey with him."  
"I wonder if they're engage like Ranma and Akane?"  
"The new kids seems kinda skinny to me."  
"Will he fight Kuno?"  
"I bet Kuno mops the floor with this guy."  
"He doesn't look as tough as Ranma."  
"Nobody's as tough as Ranma!"  
"Well, I hope kicks Kuno's butt."  
"Speaking of butts, his is fine."  
"You and your butt fetish Kimiko."  
"Her bra size has gotta be in the high D's, or low E's."  
"She's got bigger tits than that Shampoo babe!"  
Ranma seemed to pull a bokken of his own from out of nowhere. What nobody noticed was the small black portal that opened up between Tenchi and Washu that produced the weapon. It would not do for Tenchi to whip out and ignite the Master Key out in public. Not yet at least.  
"So, you're a Kendoist, so am I." Said Tenchi as he fell into a fighting stance with his bokken.  
"I am the captain of the Keno Club of Fureinken High School, and the current reining champion of Nerima." Kuno announced with inflated pride.  
Without saying any more Kuno launched himself at Tenchi with a series over overhand strikes that the young Masaki deflected with ease. What happened next surprised everyone in attendance. The fight between the two escalated into a fierce sword battle worthy of a Star Wars lightsaber duel, only the combatants were fighting with wooden bokkens. Ranma's jaw dropped as he watched Kuno execute a series of complex sword strikes, jumps, and flips. Tenchi matched his aerial acrobatics with several breathtaking moves of his own.  
"What the!" Ukyo gasped.  
"How did Kuno get so good all of a sudden?" asked Ranma in surprise.  
"Bokken boy only know Kendo, Shampoo airen not fight with Kendo, have advantage over stupid bokken boy, so you beat him all time." Shampoo explained.  
"But, when he's fighting within his own element against another Kendoist he's-" Akane started to say. "Actually a pretty darn good fighter." Washu finished for her.  
After nearly a dozen aerial maneuvers and near strikes the two combatants alighted to the ground at the same time and turned to one another. Kuno looked at Tenchi with a look of awe and respect. Tenchi was a bit surprised that this buffoon who Ranma was always beating turned out to be a better than average sword fighter. He was good, Tenchi could tell from his moves, but nowhere as good as his grandfather.  
"You fight well, your sword skills are most impressive." Said Kuno.  
"You're not too bad yourself." Said Tenchi.  
"Unlike your foul sorcerer cousin, you Tenchi Masaki have been the most worthy opponent I have ever had the pleasure of dueling against." Kuno replied with a smile that was almost friendly.  
"Hey!" Ranma retorted.  
Akane put her hand on his shoulder. "Let it go Ranma."  
"Come, the tolling of the school bell is upon us, we can continue our duel at a more convenient time once our studies have concluded." Kuno suggested.  
Tenchi scratched the back of his head saying, "Uh, yeah, sure."  
"Gee, that was-" Said Ukyo.  
"Weird." Akane finished.  
"Whoever thought Kuno baby was such a good fighter." Said Nabiki. After seeing Tenchi and Kuno go at it the gears I her head went to turning. She made the decision to assemble her staff at homeroom for a quick business meeting.  
When Tenchi joined them they hurried into the school building so they wouldn't be counted late. "You impressed Kuno out there, I didn't know he could fight like that." Said Akane.  
"Its in his mind, against a non-Kendoist he's not sure how to attack so his moves are clumsy and awkward, but against someone who fight on his own level using Kendo he knows what to do." Washu explained. "That's why Ranma beats him so easily, it's all in Kuno's head."  
"Figures." Ranma snorted.  
The rest of the day went by without incident. Tenchi and Washu joined the others at their usual place under their favorite tree in the school yard for lunch. Everyone was thankful because the box lunches they had today were made by Sasami's loving little hands. As much as they thoroughly appreciated Kasumi's wondrous cooking, Sasami's culinary prowess made her pale in comparison.  
As they ate Washu summoned her translucent computer. The group made sure to sit in such a way that no other students could see what she was doing.  
"I've done a scan of the school building, I do detect residual chi energy but no trace of anything else." Washu explained.  
"Maybe who or whatever attacked Miss. Hinako left." Nabiki said guessing.  
"No, I can feel something, like a prickling feeling at the back of my neck, something is still here." Said Ranma.  
"I can feel it too." Tenchi added.  
"My instruments don't detect a thing, only residual energy. Hmmm."  
"The day is over yet." Ukyo spoke up.  
"Aiya, Shampoo and Akane have gym class today." Ranma's eyebrow went up. He had gym class the same time as Akane. He often wondered what Shampoo would look like in one of those tight girl's gym shorts. He also knew the boys would be thinking the same thing, but wasn't worried. If they couldn't get anywhere with Akane they sure as hell couldn't get anywhere with Shampoo.  
Washu began typing on her computer and smiled. "We all have gym class today." She said.  
"Huh?" everyone said at once.  
"I adjusted our afternoon class schedules a bit, nothing a genius like me can't accomplish." She beamed.  
"You hacked the school computers." Said Akane.  
"How do you think Tenchi and I got registered at Fureinken High?" Washu asked her.  
"What if you get caught, they've gotten good at tracing hackers you know." Akane warned. Washu looked at her with an expression of total exasperation. "Me, get caught, me, by some mundane computer nerd who thinks he's Kami's gift to computers-"  
Tenchi was quick to cut her off before she decided to turn Akane into a Kappa or something rather non-terrestrial. "Ah, Akane, trust me when I say there is no force on Earth that can locate or trap Washu." He said.  
"You wouldn't happen to be able to pull up on the Nikkei Stock Exchange with that could you?" asked Nabiki. A ticker display of stocks appeared with just one press of a key on the translucent computer.  
"I think you and me are going to get along just fine." Nabiki beamed.  
Everybody but Washu and Nabiki face faltered. Somewhere in Tokyo seismographs registered a 6.5 Richter scale tremor in the vicinity of Nerima.  
  
Ranma and Tenchi observed the school yard carefully as they ran around the basketball court. Tenchi executed a near perfect Michael Jordan-style slam-dunk maneuver winning three points for his team. Ranma, who lead the opposing team, captured the ball made a mad dash for the net. He leapt nearly 30 feet in the air, and was surprised to see Tenchi right next to him. The Masaki youth wiggled his eyebrow at him before snagging the ball. The next few minutes of a free-for-all between Ranma and Tenchi for possession of the ball. All the while the student body was watching with wrapped attention. Even the girl's volleyball team stopped in mid practice to watch the spectacle.  
"Boys will be boys." Washu sighed, admiring Tenchi's swift graceful movements.  
"Aiya! Tenchi almost good as airen!" Shampoo exclaimed in surprise.  
"They sure look happy out there." Said Ukyo.  
"What Ranma's needed for a long time was somebody his age he could relate to." Akane explained.  
Unbeknownst to everyone, Akane's schoolmate, Yuko, headed off towards the girl's locker room. She wanted to watch the show herself, having a slight crush on Ranma and wanting to get a better look at the boy was apparently his cousin; however, she remembered she had to leave school early to go visit her grandmother in the hospital that day. She was the only one in the girl's locker room. After looking around to make sure she was alone Yuko went to her locker to get her clothes before heading for the showers. She worked the combination lock and opened her locker. Carefully she took out her neatly folded Fureinken school girl's uniform, a small bottle of shampoo and conditioner, and container with her favorite peach fragrance body wash.  
She reached down to begin pulling off her tight shorts when she heard a sound. It was like a grating or scraping sound. She looked both ways down the line of lockers but did see anything.  
"Hello?" she called out. "Miss. Kobiashi?"  
Silence, then the same sound again.  
"Mr. Kopi, ah there's somebody in here, you can sweep the floors later."  
No response, only that same strange sound again. By now Yuko was in a panic. Visions of a strange man leaping out of the shadows to savagely ravish her on the locker room floor filled her mind with terror.  
"I know karate, you'd better watch out!" she lied.  
It was then that she realized the sound wasn't on her level, it was coming from above her. Trembling with fear, Yuko peered upwards. What met her eyes made her respond in the only way her terror stricken mind could, she screamed.  
  
Ranma and Tenchi halted their basketball battle almost immediately as a high pitch scream traveled across the school yard. All of the gathered students and teachers looked around to see where it came from. Washu instantly had her computer out, regardless of being seen or not. Akane looked around at her schoolmates as if taking inventory then gasped. "Where's Yuko?!"  
A second scream peel across the school yard, this time the boys focused in on where it came from. Ranma tossed the basketball towards his teacher and ran along side Tenchi towards the girl's locker room. Instantly everyone else was on their heels including the girls. Tenchi withdrew the Master Key and sliced the door to the locker room's outside entrance down with one swipe and race into the darkness within with Ranma close behind.  
The two discovered a terrifying sight. A gelatinous creatures with multiple slime covered tentacles was literally oozing out of one of the air vents in the ceiling. A young girl, who Ranma recognized as Yuko, was hoisted into the air by a powerful tentacle while another forced its way under her shirt and writhed about where her breasts would be. The boys recovered from their initial shock at seeing the hideous creature when they realized another tentacle was trying to pull the girl's shorts off. Another tentacle was zeroing in on the girl, and as it moved it morphed into the shape of something Tenchi and Ranma know the girl wanted to part of.  
"KKKKKIIIIIYYYYAAAAA!!!!" Tenchi cried as he launched at the offending tentacles with the Master Key raised to strike.  
The slender blue blade of the magical weapon effortlessly sliced the girl free from the monster and Ranma caught her as she fell. The girl was crying hysterically in Ranma's arms as she clung to him. She realized who it was she was being held by and her terror eased. She knew what Ranma was capable of doing, and felt safe in his arms. Ranma ran from the locker room with her to the waiting arms of her feeling students.  
"Ranma, what is it?" Akane cried, seeing Yuko's disheveled state.  
"Don't come in here!" he warned as he ran back in.  
A loud inhuman roar issued from inside the room and the sounds of battle ensued. The fight inside seemed to go on forever as time seemed to slow for the girls as their love interests did battle with some unseen menace. Suddenly, the wall next to them exploded, and they all saw Ranma flying through the air. He landed on his back nearly fifty feet from the school.  
"RANMA HONEY!!!" Ukyo cried out as she and the rest of the girls ran to him.  
Ranma slowly climbed to his feet and took a fighting stance. "Why, you son of a-OOOFFFFF!!!!" His words were cut off as Tenchi's body slammed into him knocking the two of them back another twenty feet.  
"Ouch, that-didn't go-so well." Tenchi groaned.  
"No shit." Ranma groaned a reply.  
The girls reached them and immediately began untangling the boys. "Ranma, Tenchi, you both alright?" Akane asked worriedly.  
"That thing can pack a wallop." Tenchi commented as he struggled to sit up.  
"What was it?" Washu asked.  
"A green, slimy, disgusting tentacle monster." Replied Ranma.  
"Aiya! Great grandmother say it demon, maybe she right, yes." Said Shampoo.  
"Whatever it is, it's toast!" Ranma snarled through clenched teeth and leaped to his feet ready to rejoin the battle.  
Washu put a restraining hand in front of him. "Whoa there Mr. Jett Li, we don't know what we're up against, and my instruments still don't detect a thing."  
"I could detect it battle aura." Said Ranma.  
"What did it feel like?" Washu asked.  
"Can't really describe it, it felt, felt dark." Ranma told her struggling to find the right words to describe what he felt.  
"That 'thing' is what raped Miss. Hinako, and it tried to rape poor Yuko!" Akane growled looking towards the locker room that was now thoroughly demolished.  
"Before we try to take that thing again, we need a battle strategy." Tenchi suggested.  
"Yeah, we all go in there and kick its sorry ass!" Ukyo said fingering her super-sized Spatula.  
Shampoo produced her bombari maces out of thin air and looked towards the lock room with a malicious grin.  
"Wait, this thing likes girls, right?" Nabiki asked.  
"Yeah, so." Said Ranma.  
"If it overpowered Ranma and Tenchi, imagine what it would do to the rest of you." She went on.  
That sobered the girls up almost instantly. None of them were a match for Tenchi and Ranma, not with their immense Jurai powers. If they were beaten by this monster, they didn't even want to imagine what it would do to a bunch of girls that attacked it unsuccessfully. The thought of being viciously violated by a bunch of tentacles wasn't a very appealing prospect.  
Washu looked at the data on her computer and still didn't see anything inside the high school. She looked over at Tenchi and then realized something. She kneeled down and plucked something off the front of his shirt. He looked down and saw that it was a piece of tentacle he had cut off of the creature during the battle.  
"This could prove useful." Said Washu as she deposited the tentacle piece into a specimen jar.  
"Can that help you locate where that monster is?" Akane asked.  
"It might." Said Washu as she tossed it into a black portal behind her. She turned to her computer as data about the sample instantly appeared on her screen.  
"Fascinating, amazing!" she said.  
"WHAT?!" everyone said at once.  
"That creature is a one-cell organism, but incredibly it's on a macro level." Washu explained. Everyone just looked at her and blinked.  
"It's bigger than it's supposed to be." She groaned in exasperation.  
"The creature is the source of the residual chi energy I am detecting in the school." Washu went on to explain. "Now, where the creature is right now should be the location of the highest concentration of excess energy. So all I have to do is write a small subroutine to check for this, and---boom, there he is!"  
A three dimensional view of the building appeared on the screen, a flashing blob of white appeared in the ventilation system. Everyone noted that it was moving very fast.  
"It uses the air shafts." Akane observed.  
"So, it probably sneaked up on Miss. Hinako and took her from behind." Ukyo surmised. "Poor little creep didn't have a chance."  
"Still doesn't explain why she's stuck in adult form." Ranma told her.  
"The sample is absolutely permeated with chi energy." Sand Washu. "It could be that this creature has powers we haven't seen yet."  
"It would explain Miss. Hinako." Said Nabiki.  
"Ok, so how the hell do we kill it?" Ranma asked.  
"Well, being a one-cell organism it will regenerate very fast." Washu lectured them. "The wounds you gave it are will like be healing right about now, or could be healed as we speak. Attacking the body isn't the answer, you need to hit the nucleus."  
"Nucleus?" Shampoo asked.  
"All cells have a nucleus, it's the brain of the cell so to speak." Washu explained. "It directs the functions of the cell whether it's a part of a larger organism like yourself, or the brain for a simple one-cell creature like an ameba or that thing in there. Disrupting the nucleus can either disrupt the functions of the cell or kill it. Viruses disrupt the functions of a cell by invading the nucleus and reprogramming it's DNA with it's own to create more copies of itself using the functional parts of the cell like a biological factory."  
"So we find it's brain, destroy it, and the thing dies." Ranma replied.  
"Exactly, but you need to know where the nucleus is first." Washu told him.  
Ranma looked back at the school then at his girls. He didn't want them here now that he knew the monster was real. "I think we'd better go home, Tenchi and I will come back after school is over to finish this while nobody else is around."  
"Is that wise, I mean that thing clobbered you guys good." Akane said worriedly.  
"Nah, we underestimated what it could do, we won't make that same mistake twice." Ranma reassured her.  
"Besides, demon or not, that thing is no match for the Light Hawk Wings." Tenchi spoke up.  
"That's likely very true." Replied Washu.  
Ranma put his arm around his cousin's shoulder and said proudly, "Together we're gonna rip that monster a new one and then some!"  
"How do we draw it out?" Tenchi asked.  
Ranma flashed him his best wicked smile. "This thing likes girls, right?"  
Tenchi nodded. "Well, we'll give it what it wants." Ranma told him.  
"Huh?" Tenchi was a bit confused, then when he realized what Ranma meant he also grinned wickedly.  
"Ranma honey, I hope that strategy doesn't come back to bite you on the ass." Ukyo said with concern.  
"Hey, what could go wrong?" Ranma asked.  
"Plenty." The girls all replied at once.  
  
Night fell over the (semi) peaceful suburban town of Nerima. A hush fell over the city leaving only the low roar that was the usual background noise from a major modern metropolitan area. Unlike Tokyo itself, the prefecture of Nerima wasn't active all day and night with activity. Unless, of course, you were a member of usual Nerima Wrecking Crew. One member of that exclusive group crouched low on the wall surrounding Fureinken High School. Another who would soon become a part of that group stood at the main gates accompanied by a girl with pink hair wearing a green uniform-style dress.  
"According to these readings its somewhere on the second floor." Washu told them looking at her computer display.  
"Ok, we gotta draw it out." Said Ranma.  
Tenchi looked over at the school and looked in wonder at the wall that they had both sailed through. It was fully repaired.  
"That didn't take long." He said in surprise, pointing to the repaired wall.  
"Oh, that, the Principle of this place may be a total loon but he's a rich loon." Tenchi explained.  
"Shall we." Washu said as she headed for the school. Tenchi grabbed her shoulder and look at her sudden upturned face.  
"No, you're staying here, outside away from that monster." He told her.  
"I can take care of myself, Tenchi dear." She reassured him.  
"I don't want to take any chances, please just this once let us handle this." Tenchi pleaded with her.  
Washu looked up at him with an expression that was for most part unreadable, then she smiled. "You know, you're cute when you get all accretive like that." She said, beaming at him. "You should do it more often with Ryoko and Aeka when they fight."  
"At least my girls can't lay waste to a city when they get mad." Ranma commented, then on second though he realized that they could easily lay waste to a city. "Never mind." He added.  
"Ready?" Ranma asked his cousin.  
"Ready." Tenchi replied gripping the Master Key in his hand.  
"Before you go." Washu spoke up. She took out a small jewelry box out of her vest, popped it open, and produced two small objects.  
"Communicators, lets you keep in touch with me." She told them. The two look the objects that looked like they fit behind the ear. After putting them in place Tenchi and Ranma smiled at each other and ran towards the school.  
  
Tenchi found a place of concealment inside the girl's locker room that gave him a clear view of the showers. In his hand he gripped the Master Key awaiting the arrival of the monster. As it was, he wished the thing would show up already! He learned some time ago that Ranma used the name Ranko when in girl form around people who didn't know about his curse. Ranko was bathing leisurely in the girl's showers, with cold water of course. Tenchi watched intently for any sign of the monster, but a war was being waged inside of him. He repeated in his mind over and over again that the person he was seeing was his 'male' cousin and not a 'real girl'. The mother-of-all nose bleeds was threatening to expel his entire blood supply in one massive burst. Ranko was a vision of beauty beyond any possible mortal description, perhaps was even supernatural in nature. Not even Ryoko's formidable looks could not be compared to the elegant grace and beauty of Ranma's female form. She was like a piece of sculpture somehow brought to life by the Kami and instill with a beauty once only reserved for the angels of heaven. There was only one person in Tenchi's life who could possibly be adequately compared to what he saw before him; Tsunami herself.  
Ranko slowly watched herself, humming in her soft toned voice that to Tenchi's ears sounded like a chorus from the heavens. Ranko peered up at the air vent that was almost directly overhead. It was over an hour and the monster had not arrived yet. Washu told them via their communicators that the creature had not moved from its resting place all that time.  
"Oh I hope some horrible monster doesn't come along and ravish my incredibly beautiful virgin body!" Ranko shouted towards the ceiling.  
"What gives?" Ranko asked softly.  
"Maybe it hasn't sensed your female hormones yet, either that or it somehow senses you're not really a girl." Washu replied via the communicator.  
"That would be problem." They heard Tenchi via his communicator.  
"Wait, he'd on the move." Washu told them.  
"About damn time, what he's not horny enough?" Ranko snorted in exasperation.  
"Get ready, you're about to have company." Washu warned them.  
Ranko went back to doing what she was doing, washing and humming softly as if totally oblivious to the fact that a monster was about to attack. A second shower head across the room was turned on, this one with hot water. The plan was to draw the monster out, Ranko would change back with the hot water, and then Ranma would grab and hold the monster while Tenchi impaled it with the Tenchiken. The plan seemed simple enough.  
With a speed that was unbelievable the monster broke open the air vent and squeezed its body through the small opening. Ranko jumped to her feet and performed a series of flips to dodge attacking tentacles. She unleashed with the "Chestnut Fist" to deflect several attacks to clear her say to the hot water. As she turned to run a tentacle snagged her leg and yanked her into the air. Other tentacles formed out of the creature's body to wrap around her body, and Ranko screamed with disgust as she felt something fondling her breasts and buttock. A look of absolute horror crossed Ranko's face as a large tentacle approached her and morphed into the shape of a certain male organ. She struggled with all of her strength to get free.  
NO, NO, NO, NO, NOT GONNA GET RAPPED, NO, NO, NO, NOT A GIRL, NOT A GIRL!, Ranko's mind screamed. She could not cry out as a tentacle wrapped around her head gagging her.  
A snap and a sizzling sound filled the air. Tenchi leaped into view swinging with the Master Key. He aimed for the offending tentacle that threatened to endanger Ranko's purity. The monster squealed in pain and rage and struck with several tentacles. Tenchi held his ground, cutting down every attack that came near him. Ranko watched all this is morbid fascination as she struggled to free herself despite the sickening sensation of being fondled by dozens of sucking tentacles. She jerked her head about until the tentacle that covers her mouth went flying. With the one arm that wasn't completely immobilized Ranko pointed towards the bundle of tentacles that held her.  
"MOKO TAKABISHA!"  
A blast of blue energy lanced out from her hand searing the tentacles and forcing the monster to release its intended victim. Ranma alighted on the shower room floor and made a mad dash for the warm water. She dodged several attacks intended to grab her arms or legs, but made it to the water just in time. Ranma turned around with a wicked grin on his face as he regarded the monster.  
"You're going down!" he screamed and threw himself into the writhing mass. Meanwhile, Tenchi was being pushed back by the intense attack of a seemingly endless supply of tentacles.  
"BAKUSAI TENKETSU!"  
The ground beneath the monster seemed to literally explode. Shards of concrete and ceramic tiles ripped through the monster's body tearing it to shreds. Ranma appeared out of maelstrom without a scratch and alighted on the floor next to Tenchi. When the dust and smoke faded the two boys gasped in total surprise. In place of the tentacle monster there now stood a creature that could be described as otherworldly. It was a tentacle creature itself, but it seemed to be more solid than the other form it had taken, and wasn't covered in slime. The tentacles each ended with an appendage like a hand, and a few were formed as certain male organs. This creature had eight tentacles, and in the center of it all a huge lidless eye that seemed to radiate intense malevolence as if it were a physical force.  
"What the hell is that?" Ranma asked.  
"Rakshaza, Demon of Lust, denizen of the Fifth Ring of Hell." Came a voice from above. The boys looked up to see Cologne perched on top of one of the rows of lockers.  
"How long have you been there?" Ranma asked her.  
"Long enough to know my dear Shampoo is a very luck woman, if only I were a few hundred years younger." Ranma realized for the first time he was still totally naked and blushed intensely.  
"Beware son-in-law, this creature is a higher demon, far beyond my meager understanding of the arcane arts." Cologne warned.  
"Silence Amazon Witch!" the creature spoke in a deep, inhuman voice that made a shiver run down Ranma's spine. It was at this moment he knew he was in the presence of 'true' evil. Cologne threw him a pair of shorts and a t-shirt he donned quickly at amazing speed.  
"Now what?" Tenchi asked, still in a fighting stand with the Master Key at the ready. The monster hadn't even moved since the Breaking Point attack.  
"I've never fought a demon before, have you?" Ranma asked.  
"Uh, does Ryoko count?" Tenchi chuckled, scratching the back of his head.  
Ranma turned back towards the monster. "We're in deep shit."  
"You both give a good fight, interesting you used a Josenkyo curse to lure me out into the open." Rakshaza said. "You're persistence is to be commended."  
"We're just full of surprises!" Ranma shot back.  
"As am I." The demon said as it unleashed a tremendous blast of energy from its eye. Tenchi and Ranma dodged out of the way as the blast vaporized the row of lockers behind them and took out several walls beyond that.  
"SON OF A BITCH!" Ranma cried out in shock as debris showered on top of him from the blast.  
"Pitiful mortals, did you truly think you could defeat me so easily." Said Rakshaza as it floated out of the showers and unleashed another blast.  
Tenchi and Ranma ran as fast as they could out of the locker room and out into the school yard.  
"Ok, at what point did we loose control here?" Ranma asked.  
Tenchi looked back at the monster and his face hardened. "Ranma, go back to Washu, I'll deal with this."  
"Nani?"  
"You heard me, RUN!" Ranma couldn't believe his ears, then he noticed something about Tenchi. The same three-triangle symbol appeared on his forehead that he saw when Kagato attacked the Ryo-Ohki. Three white, blade like formations of pure energy formed in front of Tenchi's body.  
"THE LIGHT HAWK WINGS! IMPOSSIBLE!" the demon cried. It unleashed another massive blast of power, but it splashed off the Light Hawk Wings like the surf splashes off the rocks on the coast.  
Tenchi began to merge with the wings, the two touching his hands forming the white armor, and third materializing into the shimmering Light Hawk Sword.  
"Wow." Was all Ranma could say.  
From the sidelines, Matriarch Cologne watched also in total disbelief of what she was seeing. Even the great Saffron could not control the power of the Light Hawk Wings, yet this mere mortal boy wields them like one would an appendage of their own bodies., she thought.  
The demon struck again with greater force than before. Tenchi deflected the blast with his sword, but the impact made him slide backwards a few feet.  
"You may possess the power of the gods, but do you know how to use it." Rakshaza growled. Its many hands waved in the air in intricate patterns, a glowing aura began to surround its body.  
"A spell!" Cologne called out.  
"I will crush you like so much flotsam, then I'll take your cursed companion and teach him to deceive me." Rakshaza said threateningly. "Perhaps after I've had my way with his exquisite cursed form he'll learn respect."  
"Over my dead body!" Ranma yelled.  
"Would not be the first time I've pleasured myself with a corpse." The demon said menacingly. "Though I prefer my women living."  
"I'm not a woman you deranged, whatever you are!" Ranma shouted back.  
"That can be remedied, and with the proper magic it can be made permanent." Ranma's face turned a deathly white at that revelation. This creature could lock him in his female form forever.  
"ENOUGH!" Tenchi yelled and launched into an attack. The monster's four tentacles that ended with hands finished the magical patterns they were forming, and with a bright flash of light each one now brandished a gleaming sword that appeared to be made of pure crystal.  
The weapons moved with incredible speed as it deflected Tenchi's Light Hawk Sword. The impacts sent a shower of sparks flying with each hit, and an ear piecing ringing noise. The fight was furious with neither combatant giving up nor gaining ground.  
"Incredible, not even Tokimi could stand up to the Light Hawk Sword, but this thing is." Washu said as she ran up to Ranma's side.  
"I gotta help him!" Ranma shouted as he dashed off to his cousin.  
"Son-in-law, no that foe is beyond you!" Cologne cried out in terror.  
Ranma ran until he knew he was at the right distance, and raised his hands. "MOKO TAKABISHA!"  
The chi blast lanced out, then did something Ranma had never seen before. The chi energy flowed around the demon and swirled around it like a ring, then just as quickly it was suddenly absorbed into the four crystal swords. Rakshaza struck with all four weapons at Tenchi, when they connected with the Light Hawk Sword they burst with immense energy releasing their stored chi. The impact knocked Tenchi off his feet and sent him flying several feet back.  
"Fool!" the demon spat as it glided towards Ranma. "Those parlor tricks the Amazon Witch has taught you cannot harm me."  
It raised its weapons as if to strike at Ranma. The Saotome youth raised his hands as if to protect himself. The faces of the girls he loved more than anything else flashed before his mind. He could see Akane, Ukyo, Shampoo, and Nabiki all looking at him smiling happily. Forgive me., he said silently to their images as he awaited the deadly blow that was coming.  
"NOOOOO!!!!! LOOOVVVEEEE!!!! I CAN'T STAND LOVE!!!!"  
Ranma looked up, the death blow he was expecting didn't come. Instead the demon was cowering away from him as if in terror. It was in that instant that Ranma realized two things. First, he was surrounded by a bright white glow that radiated from his body like a battle aura, but somehow seemed much stronger than any battle aura he's ever seen. Second, the faces of the girls he had seen were not illusions in his mind, they really were there surrounding him.  
"You ok, sugar?" Ukyo asked.  
"Yeah." Ranma asked, a bit stunned.  
"Rakshaza is the Demon of Lust, a creature of incredible evil, but even the greatest of evils can be crush under the righteous power of pure love." Cologne said in solemn tone.  
"Quickly, hold hands and surround him, as long as you are touching he cannot harm you." Cologne called out.  
Ranma and the girls ran towards the demon and formed a round around it. The creature screamed nearly every curse know to humankind and many more known only to demons.  
"Do you feel that?" Cologne asked the monster. "That is the power of love you are feeling, the power that breathes life into the goddesses of the heavens! You, denizen of hell cannot comprehend even this most basic of feelings, and that is why you are powerless against it!"  
"Amazon Witch, you and your entire lot will suffer for this!" Rakshaza cried.  
"Give my regards to Loki, tell him if he wants a rematch he knows where to find me." Cologne laughed. "Now Tenchi, drive your sword into his eye and finish him!"  
Tenchi ran up and joined the circle of love. Ranma reached out his hand to Tenchi's sword arm, Shampoo gripped Tenchi's other hand. The white glow of love surrounded the blade, then Tenchi raised it above his head and struck.  
"NOOOOOO!!!!!"   
  
Kun Lao winced in agony as he felt intense pain radiating from the creature he birth into this world from the depths of hell. When summoning a demon, you also bound yourself to it. After writhing with unspeaking agony for several minutes on the floor, Kun Lao slowly pulls himself up to his bed. Of course, he knew what this meant. Rakshaza was defeated, and his essence was returning to the nine hells. What surprised him was how quickly the higher level demon was defeated. Kun Lao knew from Gosunkugi's memories that the Amazon's were here and that one of their Matriarchs sought Saotome to marry her great granddaughter, but he did not think she had the skill to destroy such a malevolent monster.  
Kun Lao grabbed one of the many mixing bowls the foolish boy used for mixing useless love potions and filled it with water. He concentrated, summoning the chi he needed for the spell, and weaved a glowing pattern on the surface of the water with his finger. When the pattern was finished the water ripple and form an image. There was Saotome, the young Tendo girl Gosunkugi was obsessed with, the Amazon, a woman name Ukyo Kuonji, and the middle Tendo sister Nabiki. There was another Kun Lao had not seen, a young boy, a strange girl with pink hair, and the Matriarch herself. There was something strange about the young boy, he was wearing white robes and in his hand...  
"The Light Hawk Sword!" Kun Lao gasped in horror.  
He watched as the boy dispelled the sword and his white armor faded away to reveal his more normal modern day attire.  
"So, Saotome has an ally who possess the power of the Light Hawk Wings." Kun Lao said as he dispelled the image. "This complicates matters."  
He walked over to the bookcase of tomes the boy kept. Kun Lao was surprised and a bit appalled at the fact that the boy knew little of the raw power he possessed at his fingertips with these books if only he had the wits to properly use them. After finding the proper book he took it to the desk and leafed through the pages until he found what he was looking for. The Chi Sorcerer raised his hands above the pages and concentrated. A passage of text on the page began to glow with a spectral sheen. Slowly, glowing Kanji pictograms rose up from the book and began to travel in a swirling pattern around the room. The text swirled faster and faster until they became a whirlwind of light. Within the light an image formed, first faint and discernable, then sharper in contrast. It was a landscape, an ancient cemetery with tomb stones that were far older than the city that surrounded the hallowed land. In the center was an ancient structure, a mausoleum of stone. Kuno Lao could feel the presence there and smiled.  
"So, old friend, you have endured even until these strange modern times." He said, then dispelled the image with a wave of his hand."Soon I shall have a need of your services one again, very soon."  
  
"I thought you said it was some one-cell thing."  
Ranma looked at Washu with some irritation as they all walked back to the Tendo dojo from the ruins of Fureinken High. The girls were all hovering protectively around Ranma, the fierce white glow that surrounded them before when facing the demon was now gone, but they could feel its power nonetheless.  
"That's what my instruments said it was." Washu shot back defensively.  
"Because you ignore that which you cannot see." Said Cologne.  
"What are you saying?" Washu asked her, at bit irritated.  
"You made a mistake in your diagnosis." The Amazon Elder told her in a matter of fact tone. Tenchi winced, to Washu those were fighting words.  
"A mistake, me, I never make mistakes." Washu growled. "I'm the Greatest Scientific Genius in the Universe."  
"That may be, and it is not my place to dispute your claim, but nonetheless you made an error." Cologne replied calmly.  
"Alright, in what area did I make my error?" Washu demanded.  
"You made an error because of your ignorance of that which science refuses to let you see." Cologne told her.  
The group stopped as they reached the front gates to the Tendo dojo, but nobody was ready to go inside just yet.  
"You're speaking of magic." Washu said, not as loud but still with some irritation.  
"You are adept at science, that I have seen, but your knowledge of the arcane is, well, inadequate." Cologne said. "Had I not arrived with the ladies here, Tenchi and son-in-law's confrontation with the demon may have had a less than favorable conclusion."  
"Tenchi would have eventually beaten that monster." Washu snorted.  
"True, eventually, but at what cost?" asked Cologne.  
Washu fell silent and was unable to answer. She didn't know anything about magic other than the mere scientific laws that govern it existence. Most of which deal heavily with Quantum Mechanics, a subject for which was most adept.  
"Perhaps next time when dealing with the supernatural you will leave it up to those who know what they are doing." Cologne added.  
"WHAT?!" Washu fumed with clenched teeth, but she calm when Tenchi put a hand on her shoulder.  
"Don't be mad, Little Washu, she is right though." He said. "You're expertise is science, and hers is magic. Maybe you two can learn to work together."  
Washu pointed to diminutive old woman. "With her?"  
"Why not?" Tenchi asked, puzzled at her behavior.  
"Where are you going?" Tenchi asked as Washu headed for the house.  
"Going home, I got a sudden irresistible urge to go scrub in the onsen, very, very hard."  
"I'm going to stay here for a bit, I'll be home soon." He told her.  
"Ok, Tenchi dear." She smiled and flashed am almost lethal look towards the Amazon before disappearing into the house.  
"That one has a great deal of potential, assuming she can take control of her rather over inflated ego." Cologne commented.  
"Uh, yeah, well ego is one thing Washu certain has a lot of." Tenchi laughed.  
"I heard that!" Washu shouted from the house.  
"Opps." Tenchi said and sighed. He wondered what sort of punishment, no experiment, she was going to subject him to for atonement for his transgressions.  
"Man, I feel like the floor of a taxi cab." Ranma groaned, the fatigue of his battle finally getting to him.  
"Yeah, I'd better get home too." Tenchi said.  
"Don't let her beat you too hard, Masaki." Nabiki winked at Tenchi as he left for the house.  
"Let's get Ranma into a nice warm bath and to bed." Said Akane. "He looks like death warmed over, and smells just as bad."  
"I wash his back." Nabiki piped.  
"No way, I wash Ranma honey's back this time." Ukyo protested.  
"You both wrong, it Shampoo turn." Shampoo snorted.  
"What gods have I pissed off to deserve all this?" Ranma asked towards the heavens. The girls all laughed as they ushered him into the house.  
__________  
To be continued...  
  
Next time...  
Part 3: The Resurrection of Hikaru Kuno  
The incident with the Demon of Fureinken High was long over and Ranma and Tenchi have begun college. Now the family has become concerned with Kasumi's strange behavior, its almost as if he's becoming another person. Unknown to them, memories of another life are awakening inside of her. And, on one dark and stormy night Kasumi's life suddenly changes forever.  
  
Moko takabisha  
Bakusai Tenketsu 


	3. Part 3: The Resurrection of Hikaru Kuno

DISCLAIMER: "Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki" is a registered trademark and copyright of AIC Inc. and Pioneer. "Ranma 1/2" is a registered trademark and copyright of Rumiko Takahashi, Viz Communications and Kitty Productions.  
__________  
  
T E N C H I 1 / 2: FAMILY REUNION II  
  
By Michael "TheZorch" Haney  
__________  
PART 3: The Resurrection of Hikaru Kuno  
  
A cool summer breeze wafted into the back yard of the Tendo residence causing the hair of a one Kasumi Tendo to dance about. She stood before the tall granite statue of the noble warrior, a samurai standing in at attention with a proud, regal expression on his face. The elder Tendo sister did not seem to notice her surroundings as the breeze kicked up her dress and her long lustrous hair. Indeed, she was in an entirely different place altogether.  
  
Sakumi tended to the fire in her kitchen hearth. It was small and modest. Indoor cooking was a rarity in her part of the country for few could afford to build an indoor hearth for the kitchen. Since this region of the country did not suffer cold winters a larger one was not needed to heat the house. She smiled as she worked her culinary magic, her beloved was coming to enjoy her cooking. He's been away on business concerning the Emperor and his continued efforts to unit a land divided by senseless civil war. The sound of a horse's hooves outside caught her attention. Sakumi moved the cast iron pan away from the more intense heat and quickly went outside. She slipped on her wooden sandals and moved as quickly as possible without loosing her womanly grace.  
The horse was brought to a halt by a man in a broad cloak. He swung down from the saddle with practiced grace. He smiled when he saw her, a vision of beauty for which he was almost unworthy to behold with his eyes. He walked forward and received her embrace.  
"Sakumi, my love."  
"Hikaru, my dearest."  
The world around them blurred.  
Sakumi struggled to her feet, she was tired and her body worn. The flames of what had been her ancient family home scorched her back. She looked up at her tormenter with a look of disgust and fear. He was a tall man with almost immaculate features, handsome yet also frightening with intense eyes, and his hard was pulled back into a long braided pony tail. He was a dressed in fine silk robes which no doubt hid many weapons and other items that Sakumi dare not even imagine. He looked down at her with a look of contempt with just an inkling of lust in his intense eyes.  
"Here you decided yet, Miss. Hayawara?" he asked. His voice rang clear like a bell, he was young, almost as young as she was.  
"Never, my love is for another!" she spat.  
"You speak of the ronin, why waste yourself by showering someone as worthless as he with our affections." The man said coolly.  
Sakumi struggled to her feet, not giving this man the satisfaction of seeing the pain in her face. "Hikaru is no longer a ronin, he as earned a new name for his clan from the Emperor."  
"The Emperor, he is almost as worthless." The tall man scowled. "His pitiful claims at being the all-powerful ruler of this land are laughable."  
"He will one day unite all of Japan." Sakumi returned.  
The tall man laughed, throwing his head back. "Only if I allow him to my dear!" The sound of an approaching horse running at a full speed caught their attention. The man on horseback stood up in the saddle and leveled a bow at the man standing before Sakumi. He loosed the arrow, it sang as it tore through the air. The tall man barely moved from where he stood. His hand moved with such speed that Sakumi didn't see the gesture. With seemingly little effort the tall man caught the arrow in his bare hand. The man on horseback leapt to the ground as his steed ran by and drew his katana.  
"Kun Lao! You monster, step away from my iinazuke!" Hikaru shouted.  
"Well, I was wondering when you were going to show your face, ronin." Kun Lao sneered.  
"Sakumi, I shall deal with this beast. Go to the village and summon the volunteer bucket brigade." Hikaru told her.  
Sakumi was about to move when a hand reached for her. Kun Lao pulled her to his side and with the other hand he drew a jeweled dagger. Sakumi was terrified, the weapon seemed to gleam with an unholy light. She did not know at what depth Kun Lao would go to see his plan come to completion.  
"Harm her and I swear to my ancestors I will hunt to the ends of the Earth." Hikaru said menacingly.  
"Interesting, let us see how strong your love for this flower truly is, ronin." Kun Lao smiled. "If you can reach my citadel and defeat my guardians I will return his beautiful creature to you."  
Sakumi could feel a tingling around her body. Her father has been a wizard and she remembered feeling such sensations whenever he practiced his art in her presence. Kun Lao was preparing a spell. She witnessed first hand how destructive this monster could be when he destroyed her ancient ancestral home. With sudden realization Sakumi realized she was no longer on the ground, that they were floating in the air and slowly rising.  
"Return her to me now, and I will make your death painless, oni!" Hikaru shouted as he advanced on this with his sword at the ready. A battle cry left his lips as he sprang into the air, concentrating his chi to achieve the height he needed. With practiced skill Hikaru swung his sword, an ancient family heirloom, but instead of cutting a swath through the body of his foe the blade was effortlessly defected by the dagger in Kun Lao's hand.  
"Such admirable qualities, ronin, but please save your strength for the guardians of my citadel are quite formidable." Kun Lao smirked.  
"Hikaru!" Sakumi cried, trying to reach out to her beloved.  
"Sakumi!" the samurai cried out helplessly as he watched her and her captor vanish from sight.  
  
Kasumi blink her eyes and the world of the Tendo dojo fell back into place around her. She looked up into the face of the statue and the only a faint though of recognition entered her mind.  
"You were called, Hikaru." She whispered.  
At that moment Kasumi heard sounds of life inside the Tendo home and realized everyone was waking up and she hadn't started breakfast yet. She looked up at the statue one more time before heading to the house. As she turned away she did not notice a small tear form in the eye of the statue.  
  
One thing Tenchi Masaki, Ranma Saotome, Ukyo Kuonji, Nabiki Tendo, and Akane Tendo found was the worst thing about going to college was 'class registration'. The college was holding early registration for the Fall classes in order to keep the lines down during regular registration days, but they didn't count of the huge summertime turnout they got. The five spent nearly the entire day waiting in line only to find out some classes were already full and had to settle for other classes instead. Yes, they were classes they would have to take anyway, but they wanted to save them for last. Nabiki was happy, she got the Business Economics and Ethics class that she wanted. Everyone was surprised Akane wanted the Broadcast Arts, because she wanted to become a reporter for a major network someday. Ukyo, with no surprise, chose cooking as her major. For Tenchi, it was mathematics and architecture. Ranma was the one who had the hardest time finding what he wanted. As he walked around the different booths he came upon one for a class hardly anyone was signing up for. Philosophy, or more accurately the class that studies the finer points of higher thinking and understanding. This choice shocked everyone since they knew "thinking" and "higher understanding" weren't Ranma's strong points.  
  
After the grueling battle to obtain a full schedule of classes the collegiate warriors returned home to the Tendo dojo for a well deserved victory feast courtesy of Kasumi and Sasami. Tenchi had officially moved into the Tendo home only four days prior and already Aeka and Ryoko seemed nearly permanent fixtures in the dining room. Mihoshi was, to her infinite sadness, away on patrol in Yokonojo. To Ranma's terror Ryo-Ohki was in the house.  
"Miya!"  
"KIYYYAAAA!"  
Akane sighed as Ranma climbed down off the ceiling when the Cabbit left the dining room. "Honestly, I almost think she gets a kick out of doing that to him." She said.  
"She does." Ryoko smiled.  
"Can't you put a leash on that thing or something!" Ranma growled in annoyance.  
"She's just phase out of it." Ryoko smile, her grin widening.  
"I can't believe we're finally out of that damn high school and we're going to go to college." Said Ukyo.  
"No thank to Principle Kuno." Akane spat. The week of final exams for the graduating seniors turned into the week of living hell. Principle Kuno had taken the completed tests, hidden them in his basement jungle, and gave the students only forty eight hours to locate them or they have to take the entire senior year over again. Of course, Principle Kuno knew better than to issue a challenge to Ranma Saotome, and he also greatly underestimated the intellect of a young girl named Washu. Not only that, but she wanted to make sure Tenchi's cousin left Fureinken High leaving a really big impression. So you can imagine the immense joy of the Freshmen and Sophomore student when a padded van arrived driven by four burly men in white scrubs arrived at the school and dragged Principle Kuno out of the building in a straight jacket. Somehow, by some strange method, Principle Kuno had been committed to the Kyoto Institute for the Criminally Insane. Nobody, including Tatawaki and Kodachi, bothered to find out how or why. Miss. Hinako gave Ranma her own kind of send off. While his fiancés looked on in dismay, the diminutive teacher hit Ranma with her Five Yen Satsu, filled out her overly tight clothes, and gave him a kiss so deep she could have literally felt his tonsils. It was her way of repaying him for helping to kill the monster that attacked her several months before. The teacher made a fast recovery and returned to work only two weeks after her ordeal. The students, including the young boys, were all sympathetic to her situation and made her return to Fureinken a happy and joyous experience.  
"No more Kuno." Said Akane.  
"No more Miss. Hinako." Said Ranma.  
"No more Hikaru Gosunkugi." Said Ukyo.  
"No more of that old freak who runs the secondary school store." Said Ranma.  
"No more shake downs, betting on Ranma and Kuno's fights, and loan sharking." Nabiki sighed.  
"Eh?" everyone else said at once.  
"Did I say that out loud, sorry." Nabiki smiled sheepishly.  
"Know what I won't miss?" Tenchi asked.  
"Nani?" everyone asked.  
"Amagasaki pestering me to get Ryoko and Aeka to date him." He said.  
"GACK!" Ryoko stuck her finger in her mouth and pretended to gage herself.  
This elicited a laugh from everyone at the table. "Does my heart proud to see our family so happy." Soun said, looking over his newspaper.  
"Now if we can just get rid of Happosai and the Panda we'd be just perfect." Akane laughed. Genma, in panda form, growled something and held up a sign. "Ha, ha, ha! What a comedian!"  
That was when Kasumi and Sasami made their entrance with the first trays of food. The smell was overwhelming, making everyone think they had suddenly gone off to the heavens to dine with the Kami.  
"This smells awesome you guys." Said Ranma.  
"Hehe! Thanks." Sasami giggled and blushed.  
"She's so cute when she does that." Said Ukyo.  
"Reminds Shampoo of baby sister when she that age." Shampoo smiled.  
Aeka laughed a bit. "Sasami has always been pretty chipper."  
"I wonder how much of it is Sasami and how much of is Tsunami." Said Ryoko.  
"Don't know, but I don't mind at all." Tenchi added.  
"Tsunami?" Ukyo said looking puzzled.  
Ranma gave her a very brief description of Sasami's relationship with the Goddess Tsunami. When he was done Ukyo looked at him in a mixture of shock and surprise. "She's, uh, a real goddess." She said.  
"Not yet, but one day she will be." Washu told her.  
"Oh wow." Ukyo said softly. When Sasami returned to the table with more food Ukyo regarded her with a great deal more respect that usual.  
  
What an interesting concept this summer break., thought Kun Lao. He sat in his bedroom at the Gosunkugi house reading the many tomes the foolish boy owned. So many powerful tomes of magic, and the baka knew nothing of the immense power he had to his fingertips. Nothing in these books, however, has what he was really looking for. Only special tomes, ancient tomes, would hold the knowledge he sought.  
"I must find the location of the first key." He said softly.  
It had taken many weeks to finally locate the hidden sacred shrine deep in the wilderness of Japan. Kun Lao noticed that there was very little wilderness left in this land that had once been so beautiful. Now, vast cities of concrete dominated the landscape with only small regions of greenery called "Parks" providing an oasis in a desert of manmade stone. The shrine was in a very rural region of Japan in the north just miles form Kyoto, the old capital. Within its walls was a chamber locked by four hidden keys. In the center of this chamber it is said there is a fountain of light descending from the heavens. He who baths in that light will become a god, gaining eternal life, and immense powers beyond the wildest imaginings of mortal men. In his time before his untimely demise, Kun Lao has three of the four keys. He would have ascended had it not been for, for a certain someone whom Kun Lao was certain he'd never have to worry about again.  
It had been some time since his last excursion out into this place called Nerima. The incident with Rakshaza proved that the young Saotome and his kin, someone named Tenchi Masaki, were not to be taken lightly. Without any of the sacred keys in his possession it would not do to have them on his heels. This Ranma was a powerful fighter with a grasp of chi techniques, but the other boy commanded the awesome power of the Light Hawk Wings. Despite even his formidable knowledge of chi magic, Kun Lao knew even he could not stand up to the might of such power. That is, until he finds the four sacred keys and baths in the sacred fountain. Then, he would be all-power, and even the Kami in heaven would all tremble at his might.  
The keys were once protected in sacred shrines, separated by hundreds of kilometers. Keeping them in one place was dangerous, also in these modern times few people understand the true nature of certain objects. The fact that the device of his imprisonment was no longer in its place of concealment was a testament to this. It was possible that the keys could now be anywhere in the world, collecting dust in someone's collection of trinkets without them even knowing the true power of what they possessed.  
The Chi Sorcerer was certain that the trail of evidence leading to him concerning the demon at Fureinken High School was now very cold. He had been questioned by the police and the lovely creature who had been the investigator. He decided not to tempt the fates and make her one of his conquests. Taking liberties with women who just laid there and did not move was not as satisfying as when he'd taken the one named Hinako. By this time the spell that held her in adult form has worn off. To him it was a pity, she was so much more interesting in adult form. While in class he had to suppress his lust for her. She would look at him without any recognition in her mind, since her memories were tampered with. Tempting as it was to go and visit her again, Kun Lao had to concentrate on the task at hand. He needed the first of the four keys.  
With practiced precision, the boy who was no longer Hikaru Gosunkugi, drew a circle on the floor. Within that he drew a second circle, and between the lines of each he drew runes. It was an hour before he was finished with his work and stepped back to admire his creation. Kun Lao raised his arms and a brief gust of air fluttered his clothing around his body. Immediately, his clothes began to shimmer then morphed into the form of elegant silken robes. When the transformation was done he stepped into the center of the circle, clasped his hands together and began to softly chant the arcane words of magic. Midway through he moved his hands drawing complex patterns in the air. The complex sigils glowed with an unholy light, then the Chi Sorcerer pressed his palms to the magical constructs causing them to flare brightly. The runes on the floor began to glow and slowly began to fly up into the air, swirling around the Chi Sorcerer, the two lines of the circles on the floor sent a shower of blue light around him. Kun Lao's robes danced as if he was within a stiff breeze.  
"I call upon the dark forces of fate, shadows in the night." He spoke aloud. "Your humble servant calls upon you to aid me in my search. Take me to the place where I might find the first key to the Holy Fountain of Ascendance."  
The space where Kun Lao stood was immediately engulfed in bright light. He could feel the fabric of space and time beginning to fold, taking him somewhere else. Within the space of a few seconds, the light dimmed, the flying runes vanished, and the sigils disappeared. The boy who was no longer a boy was gone. All that was left was a curious pattern burned into the surface of the bedroom floor.  
  
To say that Matriarch Cologne of the Nyanchiczu was worried was an understatement. Ever since the battle with the higher demon Rakshaza she has courting some suspicions. Slowly she pulled out the ancient tomes and scrolls from the package her fellow elders back home sent her upon request. The items within were ancient and delicate, so she treated them as such. She found the volume she was looking for and slowly turned the fragile pages. It was a tome that revealed secret knowledge about demons. She studied the tome for hours until she found what she was looking for. The page concerning the one specific demon was before her, written in the ancient language of the Nyanchiczu which to her was a second language.  
In the many ranks of the pantheon of the underworld, Rakshaza was one who fought, lied, cheated, and killed to get where he was. He was a higher demon, very powerful, but had one limitation, he could only effect the mortal realm indirectly by effecting the thoughts of the weak minded. He did not possess the ability to break beyond the bounds of hell and enter the mortal realm. He was a higher demon, but unlike the Dread Lords he could not come to the mortal world under his own power. Which could mean two things, both of which were equally unpleasant contemplations. First, a demon of higher status than him could have made it possible for Rakshaza to come to the mortal plain, but why specifically Fureinken High School, and what of the demon or Dread Lord who brought him here. Second, he could have been summoned by a magic user. However, if a magic user had summoned him here it would mean the mage was very powerful, possessing an above average enough knowledge of the arcane arts and possessing a strong enough will to control a demonic force of Rakshaza's magnitude. Combined with that was the uneasy feeling in Cologne that something horrible was on the horizon. Her sensitivity to the ebb and flow of magical chi energies told her something was very amiss in Nerima. She felt a desire to suddenly seem out council concerning this issue, and she knew exactly where to find him.  
  
Haggret sat in his small cabin tending his fire. A small kettle was suspended above the flame and from it came the most delicious of aromas. It was one of his mother's best stew recipes. He stirred the kettle a bit with a wooden stew and tasted the results briefly. His home, a rustic cabin, was small but served his meager needs. He was a man who desired none of the higher luxuries of the big city. All that he even needed or wanted was right there in his little home. From time to time he'd get inkling to get himself an exotic pet to two, like the baby dragon that they made him give up, or the giant spider that got him into real hot water once. The only pet they didn't complain about was Fluffy, the big two headed dog that guarded the chamber that once secured the Sorcerer's Stone.  
"Ah, mom's best stew, takes me back." He said in a distinct British accent.  
The big, floppy eared dog that lay on the floor nearby made a low noise. "Don't you be worrying Fang, it'll be done in a jiffy."  
He nearly dropped the spoon into the kettle when someone knocked on his door. He sighed, wondering who could be visiting him at this hour of the night. It was curfew, so if it was some of the students, two of which he could easily name, they had to have a good reason for coming here. The towering man turned around, smoothed out his thick, black beard and walked to the door. The door was heavy and made by his own hands many years ago. With a hefty pull of his strong arms Haggret opened the door and peered out into the night. At first he didn't see anything, just the inky darkness of the night. He was about to dismiss it as more fairy pranks when he heard an ancient voice coming from below. Haggret let his gaze drop a bit and he saw her perched on the side of a crooked, old walking stick that she was balanced upon almost perfectly. She was an old woman, diminutive in statue, but also possessing a continence about her that seemed to demand respect and awe.   
"Hello, what can I do you for?" He asked.  
"You're certainly grown, taller, Haggret." The person before him smiled.  
"Do we know each other?" Haggret asked her.  
The ancient woman smiled up at him. "It has been a great many years since one of my kind has graced the halls of Hogwarts."  
Haggret's eyes went wide with recognition. Quickly he beckoned for her to enter and quickly closed the door. "Miss. Cologne, its been ages, but you know you aught not to have come here." He said in a whisper.  
"It is unfortunate things have to be this way, it was not our intention to make relations between us so, difficult." Cologne replied with a serious expression.  
"It is still nice to see you again." Haggret smiled.  
"Myself, I've though of you often since my premature departure." Cologne smiled back.  
"So, what bring a Warrior of the Nyanchiczu back to Hogwarts?" Haggret asked.  
"I must speak with an old friend on a matter of great urgency." She told him. Haggret sat up and looked serious. "That's a mighty tall order, Miss. Cologne." He said. "If the council heard that I took you into Hogwarts.."  
"That won't be necessary." Came a voice from another side of the room. Cologne and Haggret looked up with a startled expression. Standing off to one side of the small cabin was an ancient man adorned in fine robes and brandishing a long slender cane. He wore a long white beard and his eyes shone with ancient wisdom and immense power.  
"Ah, Professor Dumbledour, sir, I can explain..." Haggret began.  
The ancient head master of Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry slowly walked his way over to Cologne and the two looked closely at one another.  
"Maybe I should do out and check the grounds." Haggret said getting up.  
"You do that, Mr. Haggret, so that I and our distinguished guess may make use of your humble home for a short while." Professor Dumbledour smiled.  
Haggret made for the door quickly, turned and replied, "I'll be back shortly, come Fang." The lazy dog pulled itself off the floor and loped slowly out of the door.  
When they were alone, Dumbledour turned back to the ancient Matriarch of the Chinese Amazons and sat down where Haggret had been seated moments before. He studied her a short time longer before she spoke. "It has been a while."  
"It certainly has." He replied.  
"I came seeking your, advice." She said.  
"Concerning recent events in the city of Nerima, nestle outside of Tokyo, Japan no doubt." He smiled.  
"How did you?" Cologne looked surprised, but knew she should have known better. She had to remember who it was she was talking to.  
"I make it a point to look in on my former pupil from time to time to see how they are doing." He told her.  
"That is interesting, particularly since I never graduated from Hogwarts." Cologne smirked.  
"That was unfortunate, at least the Wizard's Council could have allowed you to finish your studies instead of insisting you leave." Dumbledour said with honest sadness in his voice. "You were a most promising student."  
"Is that all I was to you, a student?" she asked.  
The ancient wizard looked into his eyes, while the rest of her has changed so much over the centuries, he could still remember those eyes. Those lovely eyes. The memory of those days brought an obvious expression of pain to his face.  
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to cause you distress." Cologne told him seeing his expression.  
"It was a very trying time, something I would not want to relive." He said.  
"Nor I, Airen." She replied.  
After taking a moment to rein in his emotion, Professor Dumbledour asked, "Does your arrival have anything to do with the demon?"  
Cologne nodded. "I am concern, the demon was Rakshaza, but he does not possess the ability to enter the mortal realm of his own accord."  
"And, you were wondering if one of us had summoned him." He added.  
Cologne nodded. "To my knowledge, none have been foolish enough to call upon such a malevolent creature." He told her. "If any had I can assure you he would have been dealt with quickly."  
"Yet, there is a force like a great fog covering Nerima preventing anyone from divining the reason for his arrival." Cologne said coolly.  
"The lands of the Nyanchiczu and much of China are off limits to us, by the dictates of the treaty, but Japan is within our jurisdiction." Came a new voice in the room. This time neither of the people inside the cabin was surprised. The man who stood by the door was tall with black hair, an all black suit, and a scowling expression.  
"Well, if it isn't 'Snaipes in the Grass'." Cologne smirked as she used the man's old nickname. Professor Snaipes, the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher and head of Slitherin House, frowned deeply.  
"It took Professor Snaipes nearly ten years to finally kill that nickname after you created it." Professor Dumbledour chuckled.  
"Thank you for giving us all a brief glimpse into the past, Miss. Cologne." The sour man replied. "What are you here?"  
"It appears she is having a dilemma in Nerima, Japan." Dumbledour told him.  
"I thought the Nyanchiczu didn't need assistance of us males." Professor Snaipes said with obvious loathing.  
"Since, as you said, Japan is your jurisdiction, this matter concerns the Wizard's Council just as much as it concerns the Nyanchiczu." Cologne said back with a scowl.  
"We have noticed a pall over that region of Japan of late, in fact it has within the past few years become a place of interest for us." Professor Snaipes explained.  
"Then you have no idea who or what is causing this." Cologne said in a matter-of-fact tone.  
"At this time we do not, and this is of great concern to the council." Professor Dumbledour replied seriously.  
"There is something evil there, evil and powerful." Snaipes said quietly.  
"But it is not one of us, or 'Him'." Dumbledour told Cologne.  
Cologne smirked. "Meaning that wizard who's name you won't utter our of fear for him." She said. "He came to Amazon lands many years ago."  
"Did he could you a lot of trouble?" Dumbledour asked.  
"He didn't get very far into our lands, he encountered certain resistance that proved too much for him to continue." Cologne replied slyly.  
"Resistance?" Snaipes asked curiously.  
"Your most feared enemy encountered Herb of the Musk Dynasty and was stopped in his tracks." Cologne laughed. "His presence also attracted the attention of the lord of Phoenix Mountain, after that he fled China."  
"Not many wizards can face Lord Saffron of Phoenix Mountain and survive, not even a wizard of his caliber." Dumbledour smiled.  
"Getting back to the subject, who could it be doing this?" Cologne asked.  
"It's not one of our kind, I can certainly tell you that." Snaipes grunted. "If you'll excuse me, Professor, but I have matter to attend to."  
"Certain, Professor Snaipes, thank you." Dumbledour said in parting.  
"So, he's the head of Slitherin House, now." Cologne said in a level tone.  
"Cologne, I am much closer to the Wizard's Council than he is, and I can tell you none of us are responsible." Dumbledour told her.  
"Then, the wizard who did this is a rogue." She replied.  
"Unfortunately, and there are a number of known rogues in the world, but none with the temerity to summon a demon so powerful." The old wizard replied.  
Cologne sighed. "This leaves me in the save condition I was in when I cam here."  
"I am sorry you did not find what you were looking for." Dumbledour said, honest worry in his face.  
"It's alright, there are still other ways with which I can find the information I seek." Cologne replied.  
"Due to the status of the Nyanchiczu I am not permitted to interfere in anything that is an affair concerning your people." Dumbledour explained. "Or we would have given our assistance during the incident with Saffron and the young Muggle your training named Saotome Ranma."  
Cologne smiled at him with a sly expression. "You've been checking up on me quite often."  
"It disturbed the council when they learned a Muggle destroyed the lord of Phoenix Mountain." The old wizard smiled. "Of course, their view of the world between those with and without the aptitude for magic is as basic as black and white."  
"While the distinctions are more of varying shades of gray." Cologne continued. "Ranma is a Chi Master, it isn't magic per se he is using, but the Chi energy that flow throughout the universe."  
"The incident, as well as a few others, did throw the council into chaos when he and the other 'Martial Artists' were discovered to possess superhuman abilities." Dumbledour explained. "Then, there is the presence of the Juraians."  
"Who are not even from this world, so they are not under the jurisdiction of the Wizard's Council." Cologne told him.  
"True." The wizard replied.  
Cologne stood up and balanced on her walking stick. "I dare not leave Nerima unattended for long, I must continue my search for all of our sakes."  
"Once again you must leave us." The wizard said.  
"It is what had to be done, or there would have been a civil war between the council and the Nyanchiczu, and no one wanted that." Cologne said softly. "I was very sad when I left Hogwarts, not because of my studies, but because I had to stop seeing you, airen."  
"A war fought with magic would have been nearly impossible to hide from the Muggles. Dumbledour said. "Besides, the culture of my people and the Nyanchiczu in contrast are so different."  
"At its root, the council is male dominated, and you know my people would never allow a body such as that dictate the way she should live." Cologne told him.  
"I realized this the moment I was you for the first time." Dumbledour said, his expression turning wistful as he remembered their first meeting. She was a young new student, looking like a teenager, and he barely in his late twenties at the time. She was very beautiful, he handsome, and it seemed almost fated that they would fall in love. But, then the current Matriarch of the Amazons refused to obey the rules set by the Wizard's Council and that was when the trouble started. The female dominated society of the Nyanchiczu refused to obey the rule of a male dominated Wizard's Council, tensioned built, some battle were fought, but a treaty was written up and signed that put an end to the conflict. All the lands of the Amazons, most of China, and major portions of South East Asia were off limits to the influence Wizard's Council. In these lands the Amazons, Musk, and Phoenix people ruled. People from either side could come and go, but they were effectively on their own if they did. Also, none were allowed within Hogwarts to learn the secrets of the wizards, and so Cologne's education and budding romance was tragically cut short.  
"I will look in on you from time to time, but I cannot interfere." Dumbledour said.  
"I understand, I will find a way to deal with this matter in my own way." She told him.  
"You always do." He replied.  
Cologne pogo sticked towards the door to the cabin. As she reached the door the man who was once the love of her life said three words that nearly brought a tear to her eyes. "Wo ai ne." You I love.  
"Wo ai ne, airen." She replied softly before bounding into the night.  
  
Tenchi had hardly ever lived away from home for more than a week at a time in the past, and none during the most recent years with his unique houseguests. That was more out of a fear that there would be no house when he came back if he didn't keep an eye on them all the time. Tenchi trusted them now more than ever, especially after the Goddess War. His thoughts went back to that day when the girls were about to sacrifice themselves for him. The thought of losing them, of being alone again without them, it was almost too much for him to bare and in that moment of desperate despair Tenchi unleashed the full force of his Light Hawk Wings destroying the evil Goddess Tokimi. Little did he know but that incident would herald his engagement to all of the girls. In the past he never imagined he every having all of the girls as his iinazuke, he knew one day he would have to choose one of them, but in a way this felt right somehow. Not because he was the Prince and could marry all wives he wished, but because they had been through so much together. They cried together, they laughed together, and they came a hair's breath from death together. So much changed after that year of hell Juraian historians call the Goddess War.  
The Masaki youth relaxed in the Tendo onsen, a near replica of Ryoko's construct back home, and reveled in the fact that for the first time in a long time he had no cares or worries. Yes, he was living in Nerima with his cousin, but the girls were only as far away as the closet door, or Washu's lab. They came to visit often the first week of his stay at the Tendo home. Sasami came to help cook dinner and everyone had a good time together. After the first week the girls didn't visit that often, but they still missed him just the same. They had business to attend to at the house, the usual chores, helping his grandfather at the shrine, tending the carrot fields, and other such things. They still came every night for dinner, bring foot from the house through Washu's link to the Tendo's closet.  
Tenchi ceased in his musings when he suddenly perceived a presence nearby. He could barely hear whomever it was who just entered the onsen stealthily. It wasn't Ryoko, she flies and made hardly any sound, he could hear very soft footfalls like bare feet on wood. Tenchi didn't turn around waiting for whoever it was to make the first move. He surmised it must be a girl, the person was very light on their feet. That broadened the list of potential suspects a bit, as he was living in a house where the girls outnumbered the boys five to three, and he didn't even want to factor in his girls who visit from Ohkayama from time to time through the closet. Likely it wasn't one of Ranma's girls, they were devoted to him almost as much as his iinazuke were devoted to him. There was one possible option, Ranma was sneaking up to him in girl form possibly to play a prank. There were advantages to being able to turn into a girl, for one you could really get in touch with your feminine side, and two you could disguise yourself quite easily. But, after living with Ranma for a week he could see how a Josenkyo curse would be a problem eventually. Ranma was a water magnet, it was as if the curse deliberately leads you to water or it leads water to you. It was so uncanny how many times he would get splashed by people dumping wash tubs, splashing water on the pathways to their homes, etc., etc., etc.  
Whoever the person was they were right behind Tenchi. His sense from training with his grandfather were so fine tuned that he could feel them standing there.  
"The water is nice today, you going to come in?" he asked.  
The person gave a slightly startle gasp, as if not expecting to be caught. Tenchi turned around and looked up at a wondrous sight. The person was Aeka, but seeing her like this was like looking at an angel. She was not wearing her customary towel, so all of her womanly attributes were in plain sight. Her face was plastered with a smattering of red from embarrassment, but curiously she made little effort to cover herself.  
"Uh, Lord Tenchi, I..." she tried to say.  
He saw in her eyes the things she wanted to say but her modesty would not let her. Tenchi climbed out of the water, still wearing his usual white bathing shorts he wore sometimes in the onsen, and walked up to her. Aeka stepped back once, but the Masaki youth reached out for her and when his hand touched her skin all thought of resistance drained from her mind.  
Tenchi looked into her eyes and was the things she wanted to say to him there without her putting any of it into words. They embraced, the Princess' soft round mounds pressed into his chest. He knew what she wanted and was a bit surprised that she had the courage to be this bold. Her skin was so soft, he never realized how soft she was until now, and there was such a wonderful fragrance from her body as if she bathed in a bath of flowers. Slowly, Tenchi guided her to the waters and they sat down together in its warmth.  
To Tenchi's surprise it was Aeka who made the first tentative move. She must have conjured up a great deal of courage to do this, he surmised as the princess leaned towards him and kissed him. Tenchi returned the kiss, soon their kisses deepened and grew more intense. Something inside of Aeka burst like a dam that had been near collapse, or a barrier that had weathered many storms but was unable to withstand any more punishment. All of her repressed desires for the man she loved came flooding out drowning her fears, her shyness, and her modesty. All that was left was a ravenous hunger like no other. She felt the nipples on her breasts grow hard and the flames in her loins grew to blast furnace intensity.  
Akane, Ukyo, and Shampoo paused at the entrance to the onsen in their room when they heard a sound within. It didn't take a very talented imagination to know what was happening in there and the perked up nipples on all three girls was all the evidence that was needed. From the cries of ecstasy within they could tell it was Tenchi and someone else, one of his iinazuke. They didn't mind at all, after all Tenchi was helping out paying rent, and provided some of the food. Clearly someone was having the best sex of their life in there from the intensity and pitch of the girl's screams. It was enough to make the three girls decided then and there to corner Ranma later today to extinguish their own roaring fires.  
  
The sound of a body hitting the floor of the Tendo Dojo rang out. Nabiki Tendo climbed to her feet with a audible groan of both discomfort and exasperation. She was wearing a brand new Gi she had recently purchased just for this occasion. The last time she had ever sparred with anyone or even trained in the Tendo Clan's martial arts style of "Indiscriminate Grappling" was when she was a child. This was before her mother's death, before her father fell into depression and stopped accepting students at the dojo, which prompted her to take the initiative and use her cunning intellect to help bring money in to keep the family from being thrown out onto the street. Now back onto her feet, Nabiki took a fighting stance while facing her opponent. Ranma-chan came at her quicker than Nabiki's eyes could follow but the girl tried to dodge the kick as best she could. She wasn't fast enough and the kick, which Ranma-chan pulled at the last minute to keep from knocking Nabiki 'through' the far wall, clipped her side sending her spinning to the floor.  
"Ouch, this is brutal, Ranma honey I think we've proven your point." Said Ukyo.  
Nabiki sat up panting trying to catch her breath and recover her wits. "Ok, maybe I do need to practice more."  
"If your gonna hang with us, sugar, you're going to need to pull your own weight." Ukyo told her.  
"What Ukyo means, is if we get into a spot it would be better if you can hold your own with the rest of us rather than us being handicapped with having to protect you and fight at the same time." Said Akane.  
"They do have a point." Ranma-chan agreed. "I can't be in two places at once, and what happens if Pantyhose Taro decides to go after us or some space menace decides to attack."  
"I get the point, so what do we do about it?" Nabiki ask as she struggled to stand and rubbed her sore spots.  
"We start training, everyday, here in the dojo." Ranma-chan gestured with her hand at the room. "You've got all the basic down, that's a start, but you need to develop stamina, speed, and most of all control. Don't put all of your strength into your thrusts and kicks, save it for when you actually connect, and don't think about your movements just let yourself move with the flow of the battle and you'll find it will be easier than you think."  
Akane blushed slightly when she said, "That was my problem when Ranma started training me."  
"Aiya. Nice Tendo girl Kasumi zoning out at statue again." Shampoo said from where she stood at the entrance to the dojo.  
Everyone went to stand next to her and looked where she was pointing. Sure enough, Kasumi was looking up into the face of the samurai statue once again. It had become a matter of great concern for the family as it was becoming a more frequent occurrence. Only recently had to been starting to effect Kasumi's usual pattern of activity in the house. With the other girls and Tenchi's iinazuke visiting it wasn't like they didn't have anyone around to help out with chores, but it was unnerving to think that Kasumi would actually abandon some of her duties to stare blankly at a hunk of rock all day.  
"I'm really getting worried about her." Said Akane, the worry evident in her voice.  
"You think maybe that thing might be cursed or something?" asked Ukyo.  
"I've been feeling something weird from that thing, but it's not a bad weird, you know." Said Ranma-chan. "Like, not something evil."  
"How do we know its not sucking away Kasumi's life force or something." Akane frowned deeply.  
"She seems ok to me, when she's not doing that zombie impersonation." Ukyo replied.  
"I think it's really weird that she doesn't remember at all what she sees when she does that." Nabiki said evenly.  
"What does she see when she's like that?" asked Ranma-chan.  
What happen after she asked that question frightened everyone in the Tendo household and filled them all with a sense of dread when ever they looked at the statue. Kasumi stood before the statue of the samurai as she had many times before, looking up into its face, motionless without blinking for hours on end. Suddenly, she threw her hands to her face and screamed. The sound of Kasumi screaming out in a manner that was like a scream of horror made the hairs on back of everyone's neck stand up on end. The eldest Tendo girl stumbled away from the statue crying out as if in agony or as if something true horrific had just happened. Everyone at the dojo rushed towards her, none of them really knew what to do to comfort the girl. Kasumi ran into the house, crying as she ran. Ranma-chan and the girls followed her into the living room where they found her curled up on the floor.  
"Kasumi?" said Akane as she kneeled down next to the sobbing girl.  
To see Kasumi like this, a girl who was harbored no fill feelings towards anyone, who never spoke a single swear word in her life, who never lashed out in anger at anyone, tore their hearts asunder.  
"Kasumi?" Ranma-chan said as she put a hand on the girl's shoulder trying as best she knew how to comfort her. Kasumi moved fast, very fact, grabbed Ranma-chan arm, sat up, and lashed out with her other hand.  
"LET ME GO, GET AWAY, NOOOOOOO!" she screamed as she lashed out but Ranma-chan instinctively caught the slap with her other free hand and held both of Kasumi's arms as the girl struggled hysterically.  
"KASUMI ITS ME RANMA!" he shouted.  
That snapped the young girl out of wherever her mind was at that moment. The girl looked at Ranma-chan and her arms, and all she could say was, "Oh my!"  
"Kasumi, are you like ok?" Ukyo asked her in a concerned manner. "You were freaking out pretty bad there."  
"I was?" Kasumi gasped, and put a hand to her face after Ranma-chan released her arms.  
"You act like somebody attack you." Said Shampoo.  
"Do you remember anything of what happened?" Ranma-chan asked.  
Kasumi shook her head. "I'm afraid not."  
"That's it, I'm gonna get dad to get rid of that damn thing." Akane said with a determined expression.  
"DON'T YOU TOUCH HIM!" Everyone turned to Kasumi suddenly in surprise, the girl's mouth fell open, her eyes went wide, and she put her hand to her face with an expression that almost beyond kawaii. "Oh my, where did that come from?"  
"That thing is doing something to you Kasumi, how do we know there isn't an Oni in there messing with your head." Akane said to her.  
"Don't be silly sis, I feel fine." Kasumi replied as she stood up as if nothing had just happened. They all watched with worried expression as she walked past them and went into the kitchen.  
"This is beyond weird." Ranma-chan said.  
"I'll have a talk with dad, by this time tomorrow that thing will be out of your lives." Said Akane.  
"Something tells me it won't be quite that easy." Nabiki said. She looked out into the yard at the statue. In the distant sky behind it and the wall that surround the Tendo home were dark menacing clouds. A peel of thunder reached the open doorway. Nabiki wasn't sure why, but she had this sudden feeling deep down in her gut that something very profound was about to take place.  
  
Jiro Tagamagi, keeper of the Tagamagi Shrine on the outskirts of Nagasaki,, kneeled in prayer before a large shrine adorned with incense burners, candles, and photo graphs of his deceased ancestors. Several people, mostly older women from the outskirts of the city, kneeled with him in silent prayer. The great bell of the shrine rang out, it's deep bass like tone filled the room and reverberated off the walls. Those who sat in silent prayer stood, bowed to the shrine and slowly let the room at a dignified pace. Jiro slowly struggled to his feet, it was getting harder and harder to perform his duties in the shrine, but the ninety-five year old would never think of abandon his important work until it was his time to join his ancestors. It warmed his heart that his nephew desired to be the next shrine keeper. Jiro sighed when he looked at the picture of his deceased wife, Makoto, very soon he would see her once again. His marriage to her caused a rift in his own family for it was known that Makoto was baron due to radiation from the bomb. It was ironic, as a child Makoto survived the horrors of the bomb, it was the radiation that stole her ability to have children and ultimately took her life in the form of acute leukemia.  
The old priest came out of his revelry when his acute senses told him he wasn't alone. He slowly turned around to regard a young boy of perhaps fifteen or sixteen years of age. He had short, dark hair, his limbs were thin and wiry, and his eyes were the most peculiar of all. Jiro was about to say something in greeting when his senses warned him of danger, screaming at him from deep down within his soul. Despite the non-frightening appearance of the young boy's appearance it was his eyes that were unnerving. They had the look of absolute malevolence upon a scale the ancient priest had never seen in his life.  
"Who are you?" Jiro demanded. "What do you want?"  
"You know what I want old man." The boy replied, his voice was young and high pitched, but tinged with malice.  
"This is a Shinto Shrine, we don't have any money here but what is left in the donation box." Jiro told him.  
"Petty theft is not my motivation for being here, I am more interested in what is behind there." The boy said and pointed to the shrine of photographs on the wall.  
The gray hairs on Jiro's neck rose up on end as he stepped back in horror, he know what was kept behind the shrine. It was the reason the Tagamagi Shrine even existed. The story of the object secured there was handed down throughout the generations. "NO!" Jiro gasped.  
"I will have it, with or without your cooperation." The boy threatened.  
"Uncle, I heard you call out, are you alri....ACK!" a young man in the robes of a shrine apprentice entered the room at a quick pace, but suddenly grabbed his throat as if he was being chocked. The young boy held up his arm, his hand clenched in a fist. As he raised his arm the shrine apprentice rose into the air, his legs kicking, and gasping for breath.  
"Open the vault or I will snap his neck as easily as I would a twig." The boy threatened with a sneer.  
"Please, he is my nephew, he knows nothing of the Keys." Jiro pleaded as he walked to the shrine against the wall. He produced a key on a chain, slid it into a hidden lock and the entire shrine cabinet began to move to the side revealing a sealed stone vault.  
The old priest then removed three small gemstones and placed these into fitted groves on the stone that sealed the vault. The gems clicked into place and then the stone lowered into the floor. In the darkness beyond as an astonishing artifact, it was he size of a large dagger and made of gold. Jewels and ancient Japanese pictographs covered it surface. The Key seemed to radiate a soft light. Kun Lao made a thrusting motion with his hand, opening his fist at the last second and Jiro's nephew went flying into the far wall. The young man slumped to the floor knocked unconscious. He walked past the old priest and took the object from the vault into his hands. It had been so many centuries since he'd hand this object in his hands, so many centuries. He turned to leave when the old priest spoke, "I know who you are, and there is only one who knows of the Keys, Kun Lao!"  
The Chi Sorcerer turned to regard the priest with a look of indifferent malevolence. "You will not possess the other Keys, they are well hidden from your grasp, I do not know by what means you have escaped your prison but you shall never open the seal to the Spring of Ascension!" Jiro shouted.  
Kun Lao turned around and stalked up to the old man. The ancient priest held his ground, determined now to allow this monster to frighten him. He was on sacred ground, and to spill his blood here would incur the wrath of the Kami upon the Oni's head. The Chi Sorcerer reached out with his powers and grasped the old priest's mind. Jiro felt the presence of the monster in his head and he cried out in pain. Kun Lao rifled through his memories for the locations of the other Keys, but found nothing. With disgust he released the old man and turned away just as the old man's nephew was covering. Jiro felt spent and tired, he slumped to floor just as his nephew was back on his feet.  
"UNCLE!" the nephew cried out and rushed to his side.  
Jiro's nephew, Taro, turned to rush after the boy who attacked them in his holy place but was stopped when Jiro grasped his arm.  
"No, do not challenge that one." He said in a wheezing voice.  
"But uncle, he attacked us in our most holy of places..." Taro reasoned.  
The young man looked up just in time to see the boy toss coming over his shoulder as he left the building. It was a small glass ball with many arcane runes engaged all around it in an intricate pattern. Curiously, it did not shatter when it hit the floor and rolled towards them. The ball came to stop next to them and Taro examined it for a moment until he noticed a strange glow emanating from within.  
"Uncle, we must run!" Taro cried as he struggled to get his uncle to his feet.  
Kun Lao smiled with satisfaction as the shrine building exploded into a towering pillar of flames as he reached the bottom of the stairs. He deposited the newly acquired Key into one of his many magical pockets designed to hold many more objects than should be physically possible. In the distance could be heard the sound of sirens which would herald the arrival of those infuriating police and the modern day fire brigade. Before anyone could notice, Kun Lao pulled forth the scroll with the recall spell and softly chanted the words written upon it. The scroll burst in flames in his hands, a bright aura surrounded him, and his vanished into the folds of time and space.  
  
A crash of thunder shook the Tendo home startling Kasumi from her sleep. Her body was covered in sweat and she gasped in fright as she peered into the darkness of her room as if fearing something would emerge from its depths to attack her. Slowly she reined in her fear and slipped under the covers. She quietly made her way out of her room and down the stairs to the first floor hoping not to wake anyone. She was still in her nightgown, the thin fabric did little to conceal her voluptuous features or the near perfect form of her breasts.  
She slid open the shoji doors and looked upon the statue. She felt compelled to step off the porch and despite the fury of the thunderstorm outside, the lashing wind, the bright flashes of lightning, and the heavy sheets of rain she ventured forth. Kasumi felt frightened, she remembered everything that she had seen earlier that day, she hated lying to her sister about it, but she felt somehow that she should not reveal what she saw. At least not yet. It was still vivid in her mind, she saw herself, no Sakumi, within the walls of a strange castle or building made form heavy stones. The man Kun Lao was forcing himself on her, she struggled and fought as best she could but he was too strong for her, he ripped away her clothes until she was naked and took her again and again. Night after agonizing night for six days he brutally raped her, taking her on the stone floor, or forcing her to do unspeakable things to his loins with her mouth. Though the vision, to her perceptions, was only brief, she felt all of it. She felt the pain of his slaps and punches, his hands holding her to the floor as he grunted with the exertion of stealing her virginity. She screamed out, her mind refusing to believe what was happening to her, and despite it all she felt known of the ecstasy she should have felt as the took her. This monster was not her love, she refused to give him the satisfaction of thinking his action were giving her pleasure.  
Kasumi fell to her knees, the memory of the vision making her knees weak. She looked up at the statue and cried, "What do you want with me?! Why am I having these visions, these memories?!"  
Kasumi felt something inside of her she had never felt before...rage. She jumped to her feet and pounded her fists against the statue.  
"ANSWER ME DAMN YOU!!!!"  
"SAKUMI!"  
Sakumi looked down from where she stood upon the protective wall of Kun Lao's citadel only miles form the dreaded Cursed Springs of Josenkyo in Mainland China. Down below, standing at edge of the moat that surrounded the citadel was a single figure holding a katana in his hands. Blurry though her vision was from lack of sleep she knew she could recognize that person even if she were blind.  
"HIKARU!" she cried.  
"Well, ronin, I am impressed." Came Kun Lao's voice to Sakumi's right. "You've accomplished in one day what not even ten thousand Mongols could do in a month. I do hope my guardians gave you some excellent sport."  
"Release my iinazuke!" Hikaru demanded.  
"You want this." Kun Lao said, and Sakumi could feel the man's detestable hand slide up her body and over her breast. "She is a fine woman, a very fine woman."  
"RELEASE HER!" Hikaru shouted.  
"You can have her, I've had my fun already." Kun Lao replied. In Sakumi's blurred vision she saw the quick flash of steel, then a piercing pain in her chest. It was suddenly very difficult to breath as she felt blood pouring into her lungs. "Here, I return your iinazuke to you, ronin."  
"SSSSSAAAAKKKUUUUMMMIIII!!!!!"  
Sakumi felt herself falling, tumbling out into mid air, she hit the ground and felt her leg break. The pain was great, but the burning in her chest was the worst.  
"WHAT HE YOU DONE!!! SAKUMI! OH MY DEAR SAKUMI!" she heard Hikaru's cries next to her. She could no longer see but she felt herself being pulled into his arms. They were the loving arms of her iinazuke, the man she loved, the man she would marry, but...  
"Sakumi."  
Sakumi looked up and saw a vision descend upon her that brought tears to her eyes. The woman was shrouded in flowing robes, her light brown hair hung low down her back and flowed as if tossed about by a faint breeze. She was a vision of beauty beyond mortal description, strange blue markings adorned her lovely face, her vary radiance brought tears to Sakumi's eyes as she looked upon her. For she was looking upon pure love personified in physical form. The apparition reached out and Sakumi felt compelled to do likewise. As the woman's hand touched hers Sakumi felt a warmth pass through her and a sense of peace.  
Sakumi looked down and saw herself, cradled in the airs of her love who was sobbing as he held her close to his bosom.  
"Hikaru." She sighed sadly.  
"Why are you so sad?" the lovely visage asked.  
"I loved him so, and wanted to be his wife, but now it will never be." She said.  
"Are you certain?" the woman asked her.  
Sakumi looked at her in surprise. "It is the desire of Kami-sama that you should one day marry Hikaru Kuno." The woman told her.  
"But, how, I am dead, am I not?" Sakumi asked hesitantly.  
"Look." The woman gestured towards the ground. Sakumi watched in silent agony as Hikaru kissed the lips of her dead body and lowered her slowly to the ground. He took up his sword and stood then looked up at her murderer who stood upon the wall.  
"You have stolen that which is most precious to me, I swear on the name of my ancestors that my sword shall taste your blood before the setting of the sun!" Hikaru shouted.  
"Then, by all means." Kun Lao bowed then assumed a fighting pose. Hikaru seemed to literally glow with unseen power and leapt into the air. With superhuman agility he reached the top of the wall and came at the Chi Sorcerer with his katana. Kun Lao deflected several possibly fatal blows with his bejeweled dagger. The combatants leapt from the wall, alighting on the ground as if they'd only fallen from a short distance and continued their furious duel across the field and through the shallow moat. The fight was furious, neither side giving ground, neither side giving their opponent an opening. Hikaru deflected several blows form Kun Lao's flashing dagger, but his foot fell upon a patch of mud and he slipped just an inch. It was enough to give the Chi Sorcerer a small opening. Hikaru saw the attack and know he could not avoid the blow complete, so he move enough to escape most the wicked blade and suffered only a minor cut across his left shoulder. When he saw the blood come up from the wound on the samurai Kun Lao smiled with Cheshire cat.  
"Too bad, and you were such a challenge, it's a shame you won't be able to finish this fight." The Chi Sorcerer smiled.  
"What?" Hikaru gasped, then felt the tingling in his arm that immediately warned him that the blade must have been poisoned.  
"Though, the poison is slow acting, so you might still have enough strength in you give me some sport before you die." Kun Lao laughed.  
"NO! IT IS YOU WHO WILL DIE!" Hikaru cried, and his entire body erupted with a fearsome aura of golden flame.  
"WHAT IS THIS?" Kun Lao gasped.  
The samurai attacked with a serious of furious movements that were inhumanly fast. It was all Kun Lao could do to deflect the menacing blows from his attacker. Even the sword in the samurai's hands had begun to glow with that same golden flame.  
"FOOL! YOU DARE TO CHALLENGE ME IN MY OWN CITADEL!" Kun Lao shouted as he leapt away from the samurai and unleashed his spells. Flaming balls of green flame streaked across the field towards Hikaru, but he deflected them with his flaming katana with almost leisurely ease.  
"IMPOSSIBLE!" the Chi Sorcerer cried as he loosed more spells, balls of lightning, screeching demonic apparitions, arrows of ice, and several other unspeaking things. Each met the flaming sword and was vanquished.  
"For your crimes you have incurred the wrath of the Kami, and it is their righteous power that gives the strength to end this nightmare now!" Hikaru shouted. Within a space of only a second the samurai was on top of Kun Lao lashing out with his katana. The Chi Sorcerer in great desperation knew he had only one chance. He had prepared for the off-chance that he might fall to the ronin samurai and prepared a special potion just for this eventuality. With his free hand he reached into his robes, pulled forth the small vial, and drained its contents into his mouth even as he deflected Hikaru's sword thrusts.  
"Fool! I have just taking a potion made from the blood of a phoenix." Kun Lao taunted the samurai. "Even if you kill me and my body is still intact I will return to life. But, you will not be able to dispose of my body when I am dead for the poison will take full effect very soon."  
Hikaru could feel his limbs become heavier and harder to move, but he was determined to succeed and avenge his love. He could see the sun starting to set and made his move. He swirled his blade around forcing the Chi Sorcerer to leap back out of his reach. Kun Lao pulled off his sash and threw it towards the samurai, as if it were alive the sash wrapped around Hikaru's waist and pulled with incredible force. Hikaru came flying towards Kun Lao's waiting dagger, but the samurai let his body bend and sway like a blade of grass in the wind. He landed on his feet just inches from the Chi Sorcerer with is back to him, leaning backwards until his upper body was almost parallel with the ground and the blade of the dagger was just inches from his body. With the last of his strength Hikaru thrust with is sword, the power of the Kami flowing through is body gave him the extra force he needed, and the flaming blade of the katana pierced Kun Lao's chest. The samurai had little strength left, he slumped to the ground and watched as Kun Lao struggled to remove the flaming sword from his chest as his body was consumed by holy flames. The Chi Sorcerer staggered across the field screaming in agony, then as the last of his strength gave out he fell to the found and remainder of his body burned until all but bone and ash was left.  
Sakumi watched as a dark, sinister form rose from the ashes of Kun Lao's body. A face morphed into shape upon this unholy apparition and sneered at the dying samurai.  
"Even with my body gone, with the power of the potion I drank I can take over any body I choose and make it my own." The thing that was Kun Lao said in a deep, hallow, unholy voice. "Seeing as how I know the spell to counteract your poison, I think your body will do."  
The thing raced towards the samurai intending to take over the body and cure it of it's poisoning. But, what the thing did not anticipate was what Hikaru did next. From his tunic he produced an object that looked like a small triangle or pyramid. At its apex was a dark opening. With a shacking, weak hand, Hikaru hold up the object with the hole pointed towards the monster.  
"NNNNOOOO!!!! NOT THE SOUL PRISON!!!" it cried.  
An invisible force drew the specter towards the opening in the pyramid like a vacuum. Kun Lao tried to pull free but the force was too strong, and in this form he could not use his magic. The thing that had been the vile Chi Sorcerer Kun Lao, scourge of China and Japan, vanished into the blackness of the small opening. Hikaru dropped the item as his hand fell to earth. The pyramid fell to the ground, but on its journey down it quickly rearranged itself into the shape of an ornate cube.  
"Hikaru." Sakumi said softly.  
With surprise she watched the beautiful woman, Goddess, drift down to her beloved. She kneeled down next to him and kissed is forehead. A bluish light surged through the samurai's body starting from his head and sending at the end of his extremities. Hikaru groaned and opened his eyes. In his blurred vision he beheld the lovely vision that Sakumi had seen and sat up quickly.  
"You have passed your greatest test, Hikaru Kuno, and Kami-sama smiles down upon with much pride." The lovely vision smiled.  
Hikaru fell to his knees before this vision of inhuman loveliness. "What have I done to receive such praise and blessing from the Kami?" he asked. "I am but a humble man."  
"You are a warrior, yet you raise your sword only in the name in justice to protect the land you love, and those who are in your heart." The woman replied. "You are a kind and gentle man with a pure heart and an even purer soul."  
"But I am now a man who is alone, my beloved...she is..." He looked done at his hands.  
"She is well, and loves you so much." The Goddess told him happily. "It is our will that you are to one day marry her."  
"But how can this be, she has gone to her ancestors." Hikaru said as he stood up.  
"You will sleep, precious one, you will sleep until the appointed time that you will be reunited with your love." The Goddess explained. "Be strong and proud, precious one, for you have our favor and our eternal gratitude." With that the Goddess floated up to him and kissed him again on the forehead. The samurai felt a strange sensation flow through him but he was not alarmed for an immense feeling of peace flowed through him. His entire body shimmered with a sparkling light. As the light faded away, the proud samurai stood instinctively in a pose of regal honor, then his skin suddenly turned gray, then his clothes, and soon his entire form transfigured into solid stone.  
  
The real world fell into place around Kasumi, and like the pouring rain around her the memories of her past life came flooding back to her. Memories of another time, another era, her happy life, her loving family, her first encounter with the man she would fall in love with, their first kiss, the day he proposed marriage to her, the pain of several month without seeing him as he fought in the war. She remembered all of it, she was still Kasumi Tendo, but now she was just a little bit more than that, for a part of this other woman, Sakumi, was now a part of her too.  
She looked up into the face of the statue and reached up to cup its face in her hands.  
"Beloved, it is I, return to me beloved, return to me my Hikaru." She whispered.  
It began with several small cracks as the stone began to crumble. Slowly small pieces of stone feel away revealing living flesh beneath. Kasumi watched with fascination as the face of the statue began flesh, and then the man beneath too his first breath in nearly six centuries. He feel forward into her waiting arms, his weight was almost too much for her but her love for him gave her strength she needed to hold him.  
"S-sa-k-ku-mi." he breathed softly.  
"Rest my love, we're together now and nothing will tear us apart again." Kasumi whispered softly into his ear.  
  
Tenchi yawned deeply as he came down the stairs from his room. This was his second week at the Tendo home and already the place was starting to feel less alien to him. Alien, heh, that was an interesting choice of words., he thought to himself. He already had his morning bath in the onsen and knew the others were already awake. He saw Ranma being dragged by his own harem of girls into the room as he was leaving. Though they were dragging him in, the expression on the Saotome youth's face was anything but unhappy.  
"Good morning, Tenchi."  
"Oh, good morning Kasumi."  
The eldest Tendo sister literally danced across the room as she took platters of food to the table. She seemed to be glowing with an incredible radiance of absolute joy. Tenchi didn't know the girl had a boyfriend, so naturally he assumed she'd been doing something interesting the night before with whoever she might have been with. Little did he know how, almost, correct he was at that moment.  
"Take your seat at the table, I'll get you some tea, breakfast is almost done and everyone should be down very soon." Kasumi said cheerfully as she danced back to the kitchen.  
"What's up with Kasumi this morning?" came the voice of Ranma. Tenchi looked up and saw him and his harem of beautiful ladies appear at the bottom of the stairs.  
"I don't know, she was like that when I got up." Tenchi shrugged.  
"If I didn't know any better, I'd say somebody nailed her last night, and pretty damn good from the way she's glowing." Said Nabiki.  
"Nabiki!" Akane scolded her. The thought that anyone would 'nail' her pure and sweet as the Kami older sister was foreign to her.  
"Something's got her all happy." Said Ranma.  
"Oh, there you are, breakfast is almost done." Kasumi said sweetly, with sugar on top, as she came out of the kitchen with Tenchi's tea.  
"Ah, Kasumi, are you feeling ok?" Akane asked with concern.  
"I'm feeling fine, why do you ask?" Kasumi flashed a smile that could have been one hundred million miles away. "Do be a dear and wake Hikaru, he's in the dojo."  
"Hikaru?" every said at once.  
"She mean weird boy with voodoo dolls at high school?" asked Shampoo.  
"Gosunkugi and Kasumi." Ranma mused. "Couldn't be."  
"Ya, like he's the biggest of all dweebs and then some." Ukyo added.  
"Besides, he's still in high school," said Akane, recalling how Kasumi wasn't interesting in boys younger than her. "He doesn't graduate until next year and Kasumi would never date someone that young."  
"Then, who's in the dojo?" asks Ranma as he heads in that direction.  
Ranma slid the door open the door to the dojo and went inside. His eyes immediately fell upon a figure laying on a futon in the far corner. Resting against the wall was an honest to goodness katana sword, and an outfit that looks much like what Kuno usually wears hung on wire hangers from a hook on the wall. Ranma walked up to the figure who slept on the floor and peered at his face. A chill ran up Ranma's back when he saw the face and he walked slowly away and headed back to the house.  
"Who is it?" Akane asked him as he pushed his way past her and headed for the dining room. The others followed him and arrived just as he threw open the shoji doors. They gasped upon seeing the statue, or absence there of.  
"The statue's gone." Said Ukyo.  
"But there's no way dad could have gotten rid of it so early." Said Akane.  
Shampoo pointed at something on the ground. "Shampoo think he no get rid of statue." They all looked at the fragments of stone littering the yard.  
"Uh ho." Nabiki said.  
"Ranma honey, what did you see in there?" Ukyo asked him seeing the haunted look on his face.  
"Come on." He said and led them to the dojo. They filed in behind him and he pointed to figure laying on the futon. A collective gasp filled the room.  
"It-it-its him." Akane said after they retreated back into the house.  
"We could see that, sugar." Ukyo replied.  
"But how?" Akane wondered.  
"Let's ask Kasumi." Ranma said and made for the kitchen.  
Kasumi was humming something that Akane recognized as "My Heart Will Go On", that song from the American movie from a few years ago about the sinking of the Titanic, as she made the finishing touches to breakfast. Her moves were like a graceful dance and her joy radiated from her as if she were almost glowing with a battle aura.  
"Kasumi, who is that guy?" Akane asked her.  
The eldest Tendo sister smiled up at her sister and the others with a smile that could have defrost the heart of the vilest demon from the depths of the Nine Hells. "That's Hikaru, he's been sleeping for a very long time." She said. "Better hurry and get him up for breakfast."  
"Sakumi?"  
Everyone turned towards the voice, it as a male voice, young sounding, and sounded a bit like Kuno's but slightly higher in pitch. The man who had been sleeping in the dojo stepped through into the house yawning. Ranma noticed the guy was wearing pajamas, 'his' pajamas. The young man, who was the striking likeness of the statue that had been standing out in the yard, looked up at the assembled group with a wide eyed expression not unlike what a deer does when caught in the light of oncoming traffic.  
"Oh, you're awake, how wonderful." Kasumi cheered as she gracefully floated past the assembled group and latched onto the young man's arm. "Breakfast is ready, so I hope you're hungry darling."  
The man, Hikaru, scratched the back of his head and said, "I am a bit famished, but first could you please tell me what is this place?"  
"It's my home, silly." Kasumi told him with a smile.  
"That I realized, but what manner of palace is this?" he looked around at the walls and ceiling with a bewildered expression.  
"It's just a typical home, Hikaru dear." She laughed.  
Akane stepped forward and made a "T" motion with her hands. "Hold on, I think you owe us an explanation here Kasumi."  
"Yeah, you're like acting weirder than usual." Said Ranma.  
"Definitely out of character." Nabiki added.  
Kasumi turned to them, leaned forward with a smile and said, "I'll talk, but only if you promise to be good and go sit down because breakfast is getting cold."  
  
Everyone looked around the breakfast table and was not quite sure how to react to Kasumi's fantastical tale. Aeka, Ryoko, Sasami, and Washu were present at the breakfast table with Tenchi. Again, Mihoshi was gone on patrol to Tenchi's disappointment, he hoped to be able to speak more time with the girl since she was gone most of the time due to her work. The story that Kasumi wove for them was fascinating to say the least. She was the reincarnation of a woman name Sakumi Kirokimesha, daughter of a rich spice trader, and she was engaged to marry the man beside her who was Hikaru Kuno. That very name made alarms go off in everyone's heads. The fact that he was a Kuno and a Kuno who was pretty lucid unnerved them. What was worse was the tragic tale of their separation, of how she was kidnapped by a monstrous man name Kun Lao and taken to his citadel in China, violently raped by him several times, and killed right in front of the man she loves. Hikaru fought this man named Kun Lao and was turned to stone by a Kami who wished to see him reunited one day with his beloved so they could eventually marry. Simple as that, or so they thought.  
"Hmmm. According to these readings she's carrying at least ten or twelve full lifetimes worth of memories in her little head." said Washu as she examined her translucent computer.  
"Ten or twelve lifetimes!!!!" everyone exclaimed at once. Soun looked as if he were about to faint instead of hose the room down in tears.  
"I've been reborn several times for finally meeting up with Hikaru again." Said Kasumi in a manner that oh so casual.  
"And, you remember all that?" Akane asked her.  
Kasumi smiled and nodded.  
"It would explain her modified behavioral patterns, all those new memories have adjusted her personality quotient a bit." Washu explained but all she got in response were a bunch of blank expressions and blinking eyes.  
"It means she not gonna act like the Kasumi we all know and love for the foreseeable future." She said with a sigh.  
"What does the sorceress mean, Sakumi?" Hikaru asked.  
"I'm know as Kasumi now, and Washu isn't a sorceress." Kasumi corrected him.  
"Ah, then she's a conjurer." He said. Kasumi shook her head.  
"A mystic?" she shook her head again.  
"A witch?" he got a negative response once more.  
"I am most confused." He sighed.  
"You're a Kuno what else is new." Ranma grumbled.  
The samurai looked at him with a strange expression saying, "Eh?"  
"No doubt many of our ways will confuse you for a while, Hikaru." Kasumi explained. "You will find Japan a strange and foreign place, so much as changed while you slept."  
"That much is evident, the noises I hear beyond the walls of your family home are alien to my ears." He replied with a sigh then reached up and touched her cheek. "But, it is comforting to find that not everything has changed." Soun Tendo dropped his chopsticks when he saw the two at the end of the table sudden steal a passionate kiss.  
"You mention Kun Lao, yes?" Shampoo asked.  
"Yes, the Chi Sorcerer Kun Lao." Kasumi replied.  
"At Joketsuzoku we have ancient legend about Kun Lao." Shampoo continued. "He was cruel man, burned Amazon fields, rape many of Amazon warriors, he ruled by fear and no army dared to face him."  
"You are of the Nyanchiczu?" Hikaru asked her. The young samurai had almost for a short time suspected that he was in the company of many Kami, for there were so many visions of loveliness at the table. He was surprised to learn that all of them were quite mortal, with the exception of Sasami, but they didn't think to spring that knowledge on him just yet.  
"Hai! Shampoo is Village Champion and heir to great grandmother who is village Matriarch." She smiled in reply.  
"I am honored." Hikaru nodded towards her.  
"Gee, you'd think a guy would that would be in the history books or something." Ranma commented.  
"He was a Chi Sorcerer, its likely today's historians would chalk him up as being just a myth and legend." Genma told him. The old man's appearance at the table was quite a rare occurrence.  
"What exactly is a Chi Sorcerer?" Akane asked.  
"Amazons have Chi Sorceresses, but none as strong as Kun Lao." Shampoo explained. "They no use magic, but chi magic."  
"Chi magic, you mean there's a difference to real magic?" Ukyo asked.  
"Yes, a Chi Sorcerer weaves spells but his power comes form the natural chi that flows throughout the cosmos." Hikaru explained. "They have no need for spell components when casting spells that normally require them, and they use magical scrolls, tomes of magic, I dare say they are much more powerful than an average mage or wizard."  
"Wow, this guy must have been really tough." Akane observed.  
"Legend say he was great fighter too, defeat many Amazon warriors." Shampoo pointed out.  
"He also possessed a deeply perverse and diseased mind that drove him to seek out and violate the purity of every young girl he encountered." Hikaru explained in a low tone. "No matter how young."  
"You mean he..." Akane started to say but her face suddenly turned white as a sheet.  
"He took liberties with many women and young girls, the Nyanchiczu suffered the worse for their lands were so near his domain and they were a society dominated by women." The samurai added.  
"Oh my." Aeka said doing a near perfect imitation of the 'old' Kasumi.  
"Sounds like him and Kagato would have gotten along just fine." Ryoko snorted.  
"If I might say, you speak very fluent modern day Japanese for someone supposedly six hundred years old." Said Soun.  
"That's the universal translators I gave you guys when you were all back at our place last year." Washu told him.  
"Oh, it is?" the Tendo patriarch said with a confused expression.  
"I understand all of you, but I dare say I comprehend only a fraction of what you are saying." Hikaru admitted with a look on confusion on his face.  
"In time, Hikaru dear, you'll understand everything in time." Kasumi told him.  
  
Ranma and Tenchi left the dojo with their entourage of iinazuke in tow. They had about another month and a half of fun in the sun before college started so they were going to make the best of it. Hikaru sat at the table where they had breakfast and sipped some tea Kasumi made for her. The patriarch of the Tendo clan, Kasumi's father in her new life regarded him from across the table.  
"Hikaru Kuno is it?" Soun asked.  
"Yes, sir." Hikaru replied with a nod in the man's direction.  
"What are your intensions towards my eldest daughter?" Soun eyed him for the slightest hint of deception.  
"Sakumi, I mean Kasumi, is the love of my life, I adore the very ground she walked upon, she is like a vision of the Kami personified in mortal form." The young samurai said wistfully. Soun had to agree with him on that part, Kasumi was certain special.  
"I love her, sir, with all of heart and soul, I would battle all of the denizens of the Nine Rings of Hell itself to protect her." Hikaru went on. "My life has no meaning unless she is with me, in her past life we were promised to one another, and sir I still feel this bond between us today."  
"Then, you're asking my permission to marry Kasumi?" Soun asked.  
"Hai! When I saw her die by that monster's hands a part of me died also, it is only by the blessings of the Kami that I am alive today to be with her once again." The samurai replied showing no hint of a falsehood.  
"And to think he's related to the Kunos." Genma commented from where he sat next to Soun.  
"You are a very bright and intelligent young man, polite, with good manners," Soun said. "Kasumi seems quite taken with you, and since you are technically already engaged I don't really see any reason why that should change."  
"Oh father, thank you!" Kasumi cried as she ran into the room and hugged him.  
"To separate you two after all that you've been through would be cruel and unusual punishment in my way of thinking." Soun smiled. "Besides, I seem to recall the name Hikaru Kuno listed in the Kuno family registry."  
"My family name was not always Kuno, sir." Hikaru explained to him. "I am ashamed to admit that my family was stripped of their name and status for the actions of my great grandfather. He committed a terrible act of treason against the Emperor and for that he was executed and our family punished. I was a samurai serving his majesty, he could, should have had be stripped of title and beheaded but he allowed me to live so that I could continue to serve him. When I lead his army against an invading army he gave my clan a new name, Kuno."  
"Incredible, and none of this in anywhere in the history books." Said Soun.  
"Likely it was covered up, keeping a ronin, and a highly dishonored ronin in service as a samurai would have look pretty badly upon the Emperor." Genma explained. "It could have lead to rebellion against him within his own ranks."  
"He took an exceptional risk when he did do so, for which I am eternally grateful." Hikaru said.  
"Hikaru darling." Kasumi called.  
The samurai turned to regard her and was stunned into silence by what he saw. She was dressed in a beautiful flower print kimono dress with her hair done up on a bun. Her face had only the slightest touch of makeup to accentuate her already lovely feature. This beautiful vision captivated him to the point to where he forgot to breath. When he recovered he said, "Yes, beloved."  
"I'm going out for a while, this would be a good time for you to see some of our world fro the first time." She smiled.  
"Ah." He was on his feet in less then one second. Kasumi offered him her arm and the two headed for the door.  
"They do look good together." Said Genma.  
"And, he's a Kuno, which means..." Soun whispered.  
"...he's filthy rich!" both men cheered quietly.  
  
The two lovers made their way to the front gates of the Tendo property and Hikaru Kuno got his first glimpse of the outside world. What he saw both astonished and frightened him. There were so many dwellings spaced to close together, and what sort of stone was that on the ground, it was flat and smooth.  
His first encounter with a 'car' was a frightening experience. When he came barreling down the street the samurai instinctively pushed Kasumi behind him and went to draw his katana. Kasumi lightly grabbed his hand saying, "Hikaru dear, its bad manner to slice people's cars in half."  
"Cars, what are cars?" Hikaru asked.  
"A machine used for transportation, almost everyone has one nowadays." She explained.  
"Why not use horses and wagons instead?" he asked.  
"Because they're not economical anymore and they're slow." She smiled showing infinite patience with his total lack of understanding concerning the modern world.  
"You say this city is called Nerima." The samurai said. "I do not remember hearing the name of such a city."  
"It is a recent addition dating back to the early Industrial Revolution stage of Japanese history." Kasumi explained. "It's usually referred to as a prefecture of Tokyo, but many gaijin call it a 'suburb'."  
"What is that?!" the man pointed into the sky as he watched what could only be described as a great silver bird fly overhead. Its passage was followed by a low roar that sounded somewhat like thunder.  
"That, dearest, is called an airplane." Kasumi told him. "Like a car its is a man made machine, but that one carries people through the air."  
"People, fly?" he asked wide eyed.  
"Thousands every day so I'm told by the statistics." She smiled.  
"Incredible."  
  
The shopping trip to the market district of Tokyo had been one very interesting experience for a six hundred year old samurai warrior. All of the alien sights and sounds of the place nearly gave him sensory overload had it not been for the presence of his dearest beloved. All sorts of incredible things he'd seen were so fascinating, like the magical boxes with moving pictures called 'televisions', the talking boxes called 'radios', the strange metal horses some youths were riding called 'bicycles', the noisier and faster versions called 'motorcycles', the incredibly fascinating devices called 'cellular phones', the list went on and on and on.  
Hikaru carried several shopping bags full of groceries fro the family and new clothes for himself since his present wardrobe consisted of his battle torn samurai outfit and a pair of Ranma's pajamas. It was about mid day and the two lovers were getting hungry.  
"I know of a good place, this way." Kasumi smiled and Hikaru followed her until they eventually arrived at an establishment with the name "Nekohautan" written in Kanji on large banner above the front door.  
"Cat Café." He repeated the name.  
"This is own by Shampoo's great grandmother." Kasumi explained.  
"The Matriarch of the Nyanchiczu?" the samurai's curiosity was peaked a bit.  
They place was packed. This no doubt was likely due to the presence of so many lovely waitresses, all Amazons, working in the place. One lovely vision guided them to their table and left them some menus.  
"I see the Nyanchiczu have not changed much, they are still as beautiful as I remember them." Hikaru observed. He felt a slight kick against his leg and looked up at Kasumi's smiling face.  
"Fear not, not even the lovely visage of the loveliest Kami could draw me away from you, my dearest." He told her reassuringly.  
"Just as long as we both understand that." She smiled.  
"Kasumi dear, who is this lovely creature accompanying you?" asked an ancient sounding voice. The two turned towards the speaker and Hikaru thought for a moment they were meeting a sprite or some other strange spirit. She looked like a woman, only she was incredibly old and wrinkled, and of diminutive size. She stood perched on the side of a crooked old wooden walking stick that was perfectly balanced as if it were fixed permanently to the floor. Her manner of dress identified her as an Amazon immediately, her age identified her as an elder.  
"Oh, Cologne, this is Hikaru, my iinazuke." Kasumi introduced her. "Hikaru this is Shampoo's great grandmother Cologne, Matriarch of the Nyanchiczu."  
"I am most honored to meet one of your status and station, milady." Hikaru nodded.  
"Cute and polite, better keep a tight hold of this one with Rouge and the other warriors wandering Nerima." Cologne smiled. Kasumi already noticed many of the lovely Amazon waitresses giving her man appraising glances, with approval in their eyes.  
"What is your name, my boy?" Cologne asked.  
"Hikaru Kuno." He replied.  
"Kuno?" Cologne said with a strange expression on her face and she looked at Kasumi. Hikaru Kuno, where have I heard of that name before?, she thought to herself.  
"Kasumi informs me that you established his business after your great granddaughter was defeat in battle by Ranma Saotome." Hikaru said.  
"Yes, he was such a stubborn one fro a while." Cologne laughed. "Though the present situation he is in isn't exactly the outcome I was looking for it is far better than what could have occurred."  
"I can imagine, I remember encountering a warrior name Ambrosia who challenged me to a battle." Hikaru laughed. "At that time I was ignorant of your laws, but thankfully the current Matriarch, I think her name was Rose Petal, made an exception for me."  
Rose Petal, Ambrosia, he could not have known them, unless..., Cologne told herself. She regarded him with her chi sight and what she saw was most interesting. His aura was very strange, it possessed none of the contamination of erratic patterns that most modern day people possessed. Kasumi's patterns changed most of all, as if she were a different person altogether.  
"Rose Petal was our Matriarch over six hundred years ago." Cologne said out loud.  
"Oh, yes, well about that..." Hikaru began but Kasumi interrupted him. "Cologne, can we talk in more, private surroundings?"  
"Certainly."  
  
Cologne was quite sure what to think. The legendary savior of the Nyanchiczu was sitting right there in the back office of her restaurant flesh. There were so many legends told about the great warrior. Some spoke of a roller coaster romance between him and the mighty Ambrosia, who was the greatest Amazon warrior in Nyanchiczu history. Some said the great warrior who destroyed Kun Lao was an Amazon with a Josenkyo curse so she turned to a man, but Cologne chalked that up to Nyanchiczu bards romanticizing the story a bit to impress young warriors. Needless to say, meeting the man in the flesh was both an honorable and sobering experience at the same time. He wasn't this larger than life character nor was he a disappointment either. He was indeed a powerful warrior in own class, he defeated a man who even Ambrosia could not beat, and he was here, alive and well in the 21st century. Hearing Kasumi's side of the story was also astonishing. The concept of reincarnation wasn't foreign to her, and the thought that Kasumi was Hikaru Kuno's iinazuke from six hundred years in the past was quite amazing. For the two of them to finally meet again like this to renew their romance had all the earmarks of Kami influence all over it. If that were true, these who were doubly blessed.  
"It is indeed a rare honor to meet a legend in the flesh." Cologne smiled.  
"I never realized you knew so much about my battle with Kun Lao." Hikaru was just a bit impressed with how much she really knew, but he did touch over the parts that appeared to be exaggerations. Like the one of him and Ambrosia being lovers or the story of him shattering a stone golem with one hit....when it was actually two.  
"Of all the enemies we faced in the past, the Huns, the Mongols, the Romans, the Hittites, the Greeks, the Chinese themselves, or the more recent Communist government, none have ever caused us such destruction as the Lord of Josenkyo." Cologne said.  
"The Lord of Josenkyo?" Kasumi said curiously.  
"He called himself that, he did not create the curse springs if you are wondering about that, but he did lord over that land for many centuries." Cologne explained. "When he discovered the nature of the springs he used them to his own ends to punish his enemies. His sadistic nature knew no bounds for he would deliberately curse his prisoners in the Spring of Drowned Girl, then either he or his underlings would torture the would-be prisoner by repeatedly raping them."  
"Oh my!" Kasumi gasped in shock, even she didn't know about this.  
"Which is why the monster deserved death." Hikaru said in a cold tone. To his perceptions the battle with Kun Lao had only happened yesterday, for he had no memories of what occurred when he was a sleep as a statue.  
"For that we Nyanchiczu are most grateful." Cologne bowed.  
"Only, he isn't quite completely dead." The samurai explained. "He drank a potion of phoenix blood, but I destroyed his body, so his evil soul became an Oni and he tried to possess my body. That was when I used a Soul Prison, a rare artifact."  
"A gift from Ambrosia no doubt, since was a magical device of Amazon design." Cologne smiled. "Rose Petal found it and the statue that was you at his citadel. She ordered the Soul Prison to be sealed in a chamber within the citadel and your statue was placed there to watch over it."  
Something suddenly clicked in Cologne's mind just then. Didn't Kasumi say her father bought a statue, and that statue turned out to hold Hikaru with in it?, she realized. There was only one way that could have happened, someone managed to get passed the booby traps set by her ancestor Rose Petal and retrieve the statue. But, what if that isn't all that was retrieved. Oh, by all that is holy, please don't let it be so!, her thoughts cried out.  
"Yes, and he still trapped." Hikaru said. "It would a tragedy unspeakable if he were to ever escape."  
"Indeed." Cologne replied, but she was already working up some way to make sure. Indeed, a being with the power of Kun Lao could have easily summoned up a demon like Rakshaza without much effort, being a Chi Sorcerer. There were only two practicing Chi Sorceresses among the Amazons, and they were both back at Joketsuzoku in China. It was time, she realized, to call upon their services to aid in this dilemma. She hoped beyond hope that the enemy she could feel, the one who blocked even the prying eyes of the highly vaunted Wizard's Council, was not indeed the Lord of Josenkyo. If it were, may the Kami have mercy upon the world.  
  
The sun was setting over the dreaded land feared for thousands of years who's origins were only the subject of countless myths and legends. Two figures darted in and out of the shadows as they gave the hundreds of natural springs a wide, and decidedly wise, berth. They stopped, hiding in the shadows of a huge boulder and examined the ancient papyrus map they retrieved from the library in Joketsuzoku. The location they sought could not be reached on foot by normal means or by air. It hung in limbo within a pocket of folded space to deter attackers. But, that didn't stop the Mongols from trying a few hundred years ago. The two were identical twins save for the fact that one had black hair and the other had white. Hence their names, Salt and Pepper, no relation to the female rap group from America.  
Both girls were no more than sixteen years of age in appearance, their actual age was more like twenty-five, and they were blessed with Amazon good looks. They dressed the same, wearing leather outfits in two pieces like a medieval version of the string bikini that had white and black fur tufts in just the right places matching their hair color to make them look even more kawaii than they were, if that were possible. Early developers, they already had generous attributes. Large breasts were the pride of Amazon warriors, a status symbol, and a way to attract a descent mates. Their outfits, which nearly weren't there at all, left almost nothing to the imagination, and combine that with their height of only five foot three. If any self-respecting boy from Fureinken High School were looking at them now they would have died of blood loss from their massive nosebleed.  
"Do we really gotta do this?" Salt asked her sister.  
"The Matriarch was adamant about it, she wants us to make sure the chamber has not been breached." Pepper told her.  
"I know, but that place gives me the willies." Salt shivered. "If half the stuff I've heard about that place is true..."  
"Look, the scumbag who used to live there is long dead." Pepper reassured her.  
"Then, why are we risking our necks going into that accursed place?" Salt asked her.  
"Because the Matriarch asked us to." Both girls spoke at the same time.  
They found their way to the place they needed to be, if one didn't look hard enough it was easy to miss. The entryway into the fold space was hidden behind a waterfall. It wasn't a gigantic waterfall, only about twenty feet high, and the pool at the bottom was shallow enough to walk through. Two girls went hand in hand through the water and encountered the gateway, a swirling tunnel of light. After a brief journey through the gateway they found themselves in the domain of the feared Lord of Josenkyo.  
A huge crumbling fortress at the top of a small mountain was all that was left of his once great empire. The two girls cautiously made their way up the winding road that lead to the front gates to the place. Anywhere a powerful Chi Sorcerer or Sorceress dies they leave a peace of themselves behind, like a shadow of their former selves as a spirit to haunt the place. Neither girl wanted to encounter that spirit if even half the stories they heard about Kun Lao were true at all. Even though his shadow was nowhere as powerful as the real thing he would still be formidable, and it was doubly worse for two good reasons. One, they girls, and two, they were excessively cute girls.  
They reached what looked like an old dried up moat that has seen better days. To one side was a curious pile of bleached human bones. The girls knew what that was, and maneuvered around it. Never, never, never ever mess with the bones of a deceased magic user. You never could tell if he were a Lich or something, that would be bad. Very bad.  
Salt and Pepper penetrated the protective wall of the fortress through one of many massive holes that formed when some it fall due to decay. The two young Chi Sorceresses could feel the resonating backwash from all of the immense chi magic once released in this place over the centuries. It would take millions of years for it finally dissipate to any reasonable level. The fortress itself, in the day when it was still in good condition, must have looked frightening. It still had that look, but in a decayed sense. The girls ventured within, their chi senses searching for any presence of the shadow they knew had to be lurking about somewhere. They came to a room that reverberated with a peculiar feeling in their senses. The floor was smooth and unmarked save for the four chain and manacles connected to iron rings embedded in the floor.  
"What was this room for?" Salt asked.  
"What do you think." Pepper told her pointing to the four chains.  
The white haired Chi Sorceress envisioned a hapless victim trapped by those manacles on the floor as a man grunted and groaned on top of her. She banished that 'chain' of thought quickly, such thoughts could attract the shadow.  
"Oh!" Salt said and blushed furiously.  
"I wonder if this is the room where he got our ancestor Ambrosia." Pepper said.  
"No way! He couldn't have, she was the greatest warrior in our history, and she's related to us." Salt objected.  
"You need to reread your history scrolls, sis." Pepper told her. "Our ancestor was a 'guest' of Kun Lao's at least once and she was pretty pissed off about it too when she finally killed her guard and got away."  
"I would be to if a male force himself onto me like that." Salt snorted.  
"Unless he was cute." said Pepper.  
"And had dreamy eyes, like that one guy, what was his name, who came to the village about a year ago." Salt said.  
"Uh, Ryoda, Ryufa, Ryuga, or something like that." Pepper shrugged.  
"Now that's a male I could fall down and worship on." Salt smiled coyly.  
"Too bad we chased him off, he was really cute, but I think we were coming on too strong." Pepper sighed.  
"Do you think ambushing him while he bathed wearing swimsuits made of whipped cream was a little much?" Salt asked her sister.  
"Hey, worked on that other cute boy, what was his name?" Pepper thought.  
"Quest, Johnny Quest." Salt smiled.  
"Yeah, him, cute dog too."  
Finally, after hours of searching the girls finally reached the entrance to the chamber where Kun Lao was imprisoned. They noticed the shallow depression the floor where the statue was supposedly placed, which was now vacant, and the stone door that sealed the chamber shut was now out of place.  
"This doesn't look good." Pepper said uneasily.  
The two entered the chamber and looked towards the stone pedestal where the object was supposed to be, but wasn't any longer. "No, this is bad, worse than bad." Pepper gasped.  
"Oh, no, what are we going to tell Great Aunt Cologne?" Salt whined.  
"Exactly what we've seen, and we call her Matriarch." Pepper corrected her.  
Eager to be away from the place before the shadow arrived to 'try' and have his way with a pair of deliciously beautiful Amazons, Salt and Pepper ran from the citadel and back to the gateway. They didn't really mind the journey past the springs of Josenkyo now especially after being in that awful place just a while ago.  
  
Kun Lao was returning to his home, he had the first key, and it was well hidden. He wanted to find the second but the call of his other needs was getting too demanding. He wandered into the Fureinken Financial District and then saw her. She was a beauty beyond compare with the perfect body, nice breasts, and athletic build that denoted a possible martial arts background. All good attributes for some interesting playtime. This time he'd allow his next fortunately victim have some limited free will, just enough to give him the flight that drop his loins into a frenzy. He walked up behind her and stretched out with his mind, the first thing he noticed about her was that she was in fact an Amazon, one of the Nyanchiczu which explained her incredible good looks. It also meant controlling her would be harder to do. He remember that one Amazon, Ambrosia, had been near to impossible to control, and it made indulging his pleasures with her all the more satisfying. Slowly he encircled this girl's mind with his consciousness and attacked from all sides at once. The Nyanchiczu were taught from a young age to recognize a psychic attack when they felt one, and they had the ability to fight back. It took a few seconds to rein this one in, this Satin, great grand niece of Cologne, Matriarch of the Nyanchiczu. He found a nice place for them to spend some quality time together. It was a place controlled by the Yakuza, a band of thugs who existed during his time, but the fools were so weak minded that didn't even see them walked right through the entrance.  
He took her on a mattress laying on the floor of a back room, allowing her to have enough will to fight back a little but not giving her too much leverage. It was the best session he's had in a while since Miss. Hinako who had been a real pleasure to service. He cleaned her up and wiped her mind of the incident, but had he known of the resourcefulness of a certain Amazon Matriarch he would have left well enough alone.  
Kasumi and her new iinazuke were long gone, and the twins have only just called with the disturbing news Cologne did not want to hear. On top of that, Satin, her afternoon help, was late. The Amazon beauty finally entered the Nekohautan with a cheerful, "Nihao!"  
"You're late, Satin." Cologne frowned.  
"What you mean, Satin leave on time, she look at sun in sky." The girl put her hands on her shapely hips.  
Cologne was looking at the girl with her chi sight and saw something odd about the girl. "What have you been doing?" she asked her.  
"What you mean, Satin come to work." The girl replied.  
Her aura is reverberating as if she'd just made love, but I sense she has no memory of doing such thing., Cologne thought.  
"Come here, child." Cologne beckoned to her and Satin approached without question.  
"Sit," the Matriarch gestured to the chair. "Now clear your mind and open to me the pathways of your thoughts."  
The girl did as instructed and Cologne concentrated. Her senses reached out and she felt into the girl's mind. After a few minutes she withdrew. She is missing nearly an hour's worth of time from her memory, but how?, she thought.  
"Anything wrong Matriarch?" Satin asked.  
"I am not sure." She replied, a growing sense of dread began to fill her heart. So wrapped in her musings she nearly jumped when the phone rang. The diminutive Amazon pogo sticked to the phone on her staff and picked up the phone.  
"Nekohautan, is this for pickup or delivery?" she said.  
"Great grand aunt?" came a voice on the other end.  
"Salt, where are you, what's that noise in the background?" Cologne asked as it was hard to hear the soft spoken girl over the din on the other end.  
There was a sound then Pepper came on the line. "We're on the west coast of Japan, we followed some leads and it brought us to this shipping dock, or more accurately a warehouse operated by the Yakuza for the purpose of pandering in price artifacts."  
"The Soul Prison is in Japan!" Cologne gasped.  
"And the statue." Pepper replied. "We found out that a grave rob...I mean archeologist named Laura Croft was the one who original went into Kun Lao's domain and retrieve the items in question. We followed that trail to a Hong Kong crime boss who specializes in antiques, he sold the items to a rather shady American businessman named Lexx Luther, he traded them for illegal computer components here in Japan, so now we're trying to find out who had them next."  
"Good work girls, keep on the trail and call me as soon as you found that item, the statue is already accounted for, but the other item must be located." Cologne told them.  
"No problem, Matriarch." Pepper said then she hung up.  
"Who was that Matriarch?" Rouge asked.  
"Your nieces Salt and Pepper, I have them investigating an important issue for me." She said.  
"Oh, well hopefully they don't have to come to Japan." The lovely Amazon relaxed.  
"Uh, they are in Japan." Cologne replied dubiously.  
The Amazon woman exploded. "WHAT, YOU LET THE HENTAI TWINS LOOSE ON THE SUSPECTING MALES OF JAPAN!!!!!"  
"Opps, I forgot that about them." Cologne winced remembering suddenly her major blunder. "I'm certain they're concentrating on their mission, they seem to be making good time so far."  
"You seem to have forgotten Beijing so soon, great aunt." Rouge frowned deeply.  
Cologne groaned, "I'll never be able to forget Beijing, but they are the only ones suited for this important task."  
"I pray to our ancestors you are right." The Amazon replied before stalking away.  
  
The Hentai Twins Salt and Pepper sat onboard one of the main bullet trains that was headed for a place called Nerima. The two wandered into the Yakuza owned and operated warehouse and suddenly found themselves surrounded by a dozen well armed men. Of course, the men didn't have a prayer. After about an hour the girls had the info they wanted about the item they were tracking and left a warehouse of unconscious young men laying on the floor half naked, with stupid happy expressions on their unconscious faces.  
"Why did they have to pass out so soon?" Salt sighed.  
"Yeah, I wasn't done." Pepper groaned in frustration.  
"I guess they don't make men too resilient in Japan." Salt breathed.  
She looked at the piece of paper with the address for a pawn shop she had 'coerced' our of one of the young men she was 'interrogating'. It was in the city of Nerima, just on the outskirts of Tokyo, and just so happened to be where the Matriarch was. Go figure.  
"This thing is fast, but it'll take us forever to get to Nerima like this." Salt said as she looked out at the passing landscape.  
"Yeah, lets fold." Pepper said.  
The two girls stood up, grasped each other's hands, then stopped forward and literally vanished into nothingness. Hundreds of miles away to the east, the pair emerged in a back alleyway. Their arrival and appearance caught the immediate notice of the local riff raff who though a good thing had just fallen right into their hands. About twelve young, streetwise, street toughened boys surrounded the two scantly clad young girls and literally drooled at the idea of partaking of their usually well developed attributes.  
"Oh my." Salt said in a perfect imitation of Kasumi.  
"Boys." Said Pepper.  
"Cute boys." Said Salt.  
"COOL!" They chorused.  
The two girls seemed to literally glow with energy before the boys could even make a move. Very quickly they discovered these were no ordinary pieces of fluff that they could have their way with. Very soon they learned a new meaning to the phrase "Rock Your World!"  
  
That was much better., the girls thought as the left the alley leaving in their wake a trail of unconscious bodies. They had folded through the fabric of time and space just short of their intended destination, but the two weren't complaining. The address was for a pawn shop, and there it was nestled between a Japanese McDonalds and a kimono shop. Women gasped when they saw the young girl walk by, wearing next to nothing, and many of the men could not help but admire what they saw. The girls reached the business without incident, a fat tub of lard sat behind the counter. Upon seeing them walk in his eyes went wide for a moment then he asked them, "How can I help two cute little things like you?"  
Salt felt the greasy man's eyes on her body and it made her skin crawl. "You can help by shutting up fatso." She waved her hand at his face and it immediately went slackened and his expression was like that of a zombie.  
"I'll check his records." Said Pepper as she went behind the counter.  
Salt didn't want to have to touch this toad of a male, but she didn't have to in order to probe his memories. She rifled through several items that made her wince and gag at few times but found nothing of any real interest. It wasn't until she looked at his memories as a whole that she discovered something was a miss.  
"Hey, somebody wiped some of his memories, and whoever did it is good because this guy is none the wiser." Salt announced.  
"All evidence at the warehouse says the item should have come here, but then the paper trail ends." Said Pepper.  
"As if a place like this would keep a paper trail, I've seen stink holes like this all over Hong Kong." Salt spat.  
"I don't know, they seemed to have a pretty thorough filing system back there." Said Pepper. "I think somebody has deliberately gotten rid of the paperwork concerning the item."  
"Can you conjure it up?" Salt asked her twin.  
"Does a panda shit in the woods?" Pepper smiled.  
  
Around the time Tenchi, Ranma, and the girls gathered at Ucchan's Cologne was sitting in the Cat Café' looking over the books. She was very good at numbers and accounting and had no need for new fangled devices like calculators or computers. The rest of the Nyanchiczu at Joketsuzoku might want to modernize and get with the modern times, but she still thought a simple life was still the best. The phone rang in the office and Rouge picked it up. The woman's piercing cries made Cologne snap her pencil in half.  
"GIRLS, WHERE ARE YOU, YOU'RE NOT CAUSING TROUBLE ARE YOU?"  
She listened to the other end and sighed with relief. "Oh good." she said. "Cologne is here, hold on." She handed the phone to the Matriarch who snorted derisively in the woman's direction and asked, "What have you found out?"  
"Matriarch," Pepper said on the other line. "The item came to a pawn shop right in Nerima, about a mile from your place. It was sold to a Hikaru Gosunkugi, Salt is divining the location of his home right now."  
"Excellent, get the item and bring it straight here." Cologne cheered.  
"Yes, Matriarch." The girl on the other end said before hanging up.  
Soon, very soon, the whole damn thing will be over and done with., thought the Matriarch. Or so she thought.  
  
Kun Lao was happy, the Amazon has given some interesting sport and he was satisfied until the next time. He found is way to him home when he felt a presence, or two presences for that matter. In the growing darkness he could see who petite figures lurking in the shadows. He was of a mind to reach out and grab their minds, but something about these two told him that would not be a good idea. There was a sense of real danger about these two, and never felt that unless he was near someone of great power, like Ranma Saotome, or another Chi Sorcerer. Or Chi Sorceress.  
Kun Lao focused his chi energies for the "Cat's Eye" spell to give him the vision of the cat at night. He felt the spell take effect and his vision immediately cleared and the area brightened up as if he were in early twilight. The two figures skulking around his house were two of the most curious creatures he ever seen. They were both girls, that much was most evident, and quite exceptionally beautiful. They wore next to nothing but a thin leather two piece bikini outfit with little tufts of fur to enhance their features and make them look cuter than sexier. They were twins from their looks, and the only obvious difference was that one had snow white hair and the other had black hair. All in all they were something to behold indeed. Kun Lao wondered if he could control who girls at the same time to have a threesome but those thoughts were banished the girls phased through the wall of his house and slipped into his bed room.  
"Chi Sorcery!" he gasped, sensing their power. "But, how?"  
The girls remerged and one of them had an object in her hand that he recognized as the Soul Prison. No, I must get that back, I need it!, his thoughts cried.  
"This was too easy." The white haired one said.  
"Yeah, but didn't the Matriarch say it was supposed to be a cube?" the black haired one asked.  
"Well, it's a Soul Prison, and that's what we came to get." The white haired one said.  
"Please hand that back to me." Came a voice from across the yard.  
"Huh?" the girls both said at once and turned to regard the boy. He was much too thin for their linking, had a dweebish quality that certainly turned them both off quite fiercely. Yet, their senses warned them to now underestimate him.  
"It's a boy." Said the white haired one.  
"And he's not cute." the black haired one frowned.  
"Pretty sad." The white haired one replied.  
"That belongs to me, return it, now!" the boy insisted fiercely.  
The white hair girl snorted in anger. "Sis, maybe we should teach this male his place."  
"Not a bad idea." The black haired one replied and the two girls launched to attack. That was when the wave for force struck them and sent them flying into the wall of the house.  
"Ouch, that hurt!" the white haired one groaned.  
"This guy's got Chi Sorcerer abilities." The black haired girl said as she decided to him more seriously in a fight.  
Something profound suddenly came to their minds as they looked at the object in their hands. The object that should be a cube was no longer in the shape of a cube, and they knew what was held within it. The two as one looked up at the young boy stalking up towards them and could literally feel the malevolent energy radiating from him.  
"Oh shit, we're so screwed."  
  
Cologne anticipated the arrival of the twins any minute with the valuable item. What was most important was that it contents stay where they are, inside the Soul Prison where it belongs. She was not certain what would happen if the vile Kun Lao somehow escaped, but it would ultimately prove to be very bad for both the people of Japan and her own. A sound at the front of the Nekohautan drew her attention. The twins in question bust through the front door scaring several customers.  
"Matriarch!" Salt and Pepper called.  
"What is wrong with you two, what is with the distress?" she asked them as she and Rouge came running up to them.  
"This." Pepper handed the item in question to the Matriarch and her face drained of all color.  
"No." Cologne breathed.  
"He's...free?" Rouge stammered in a frightened tone.  
"According to the receipt I was able to conjure, it was sold to the boy many months ago." Pepper explained.  
"We think he opened it." Salt added.  
"How do you know it was him?" Cologne asked.  
The two girls pointed outside and then Cologne noticed a young man she recognized as Ranma's would-be rival for Akane from his high school. The young lad was involved in the dark arts, but was so dim witted that he didn't know how to properly use the magical forces he had just beyond his fingertips. Now, this young man no longer had that stupid grin on his face, but a malevolent sneer that sent a chill down her spin. She looked at him with her chi sight and what she most feared was confirmed.  
"I only have one thing to say." She said. "RUN!"  
  
Hikaru Kuno watched his iinazuke happily work in the kitchen. Or at least that is what it was called but the place looked like no other kitchen he ever remembered seeing. This thing called "indoor plumbing" was truly a miracle, the box that stayed cold without ice called a "refrigerator" was a marvel, but the "stove" was most amazing. How fire could be so easily harnessed in such a way that a huge hearth was no longer needed for preparing meals was truly a marvel. Other things like the "microwave oven" and the "food processor" were still beyond his understanding for now.  
She was exactly as he remembered her, Kasumi was always so happy when she was making dinner for the man she loved. The woman, a vision of loveliness, glided from one end of the kitchen to the other as she did the work of ten women in less than a space of one hour. Indeed, some things about his Sakumi were different in the form of his lovely Kasumi Tendo. Her grace and polite manner was still there, but she also had a different quality that appealed to him. No long was she the submissive little housewife she had been when he knew her original self, she had a fiery spirit in her, probably due to one of her many past lives. This made him love her even more.  
The ways of this modern Japan were indeed foreign to him. No longer was there a need for "real" samurai. He would not have to present himself to the current Emperor, for he was only a figure head in a government that was now controlled by elected officials chosen by the people in a vote. How all that came about was just as confusing, and Kasumi had given him a book on the subject of a historical event called "World War II". That was not the end to his confusion, piled on top of confusion, for it was learned that the young Ranma Saotome was a prince of a far away empire called Jurai, and that Kasumi's two younger sisters, the lovely woman named Ukyo Kuonji, and the beautiful Amazon name Shampoo were all his iinazuke. The same was said for Tenchi Masaki, Ranma's kinsman, and the young visions of beauty that had been at his side were his iinazuke. Worst yet, Jurai was not an empire on the surface of this Earth but an empire in the sky no less. This lead to the "Earth" shaking discovery that the Earth was "round" and not flat! The whole idea that the Earth was a small spec floating in the ether of a vast and immensely large universe nearly gave him a brain embolism.  
A loud commotion outside drew his attention as Matriarch Cologne and several of her fellow Nyanchiczu came running into the Tendo home. They all had expressions of great fear and anxiety on their faces. He didn't notice at first, the nearly dressed twins standing behind the Matriarch or he would have developed a nosebleed.  
"Where is son-in-law?" she demanded.  
"Ranma and the girls stepped out some time ago." Kasumi told her.  
"Wonderful, right when we do need him son-in-law decides to skip out on a date." The Matriarch sighed heavily.  
"What is your distress Lady Cologne?" Hikaru asked.  
She held up the opened Soul Prison in her hands and was his eyes go wide with shock and surprise. Immediately, his katana flashed into his hands and his face took on a hard expression.  
"Where is he?" he asked.  
"Right behind us." Cologne pointed.  
Hikaru Kuno stepped out into the Tendo's back yard as a small, thin figure leapt over the wall and alighted in the yard. "Take Kasumi and the others to safety, I will deal with him." Hikaru said in a stern voice and felt into a fighting stance.  
  
Kun Lao was loosing patience with these Amazons. He should be done away with them a long time ago, and he could have obliterated them by now but where was the fun in that. Besides, he wanted to give those two delicious twins his full attention later on, perhaps several times, over and over for several days until he was satisfied. The old wrinkle crone, the Matriarch, would have to go. She no doubt knew arcane knowledge that could be threat to him later on, and from the memories of the boy he now inhabited he knew she was training the Saotome boy in Amazon techniques. Keeping his existence now was a moot point, they knew about the Soul Prison, and thus knew he was free once again. What he wasn't counting on was what met him in the yard of the Tendo home.  
He hadn't been expecting to see him ever again, believing the samurai has fallen pray to his poison dagger over six hundred years before. Kun Lao fought this man before and knew he was formidable. It was fortunate that he'd been conditioning this new body with special magic so that it was up to par with his old original body. So, he alighted in the back yard of the Tendo clan home and stared across the yard at a man he thought long dead.  
"Now isn't this interesting." Said Kun Lao. "I thought you were dead."  
"I've been asleep with the aid of the Kami." Hikaru replied as he raised his sword in preparation for the battle that was about to erupt.  
"The Kami, eh, I will make a note to punish them for their temerity to interfere in my business." Kun Lao snarled.  
"You dare to speak of the Kami in that fashion!" Hikaru shouted at him.  
"Believe me, ronin, if you were to ask any of them you'd quickly learn that they are terrified of me." Kun Lao sneered.  
"That was when you possessed the three Keys, but now you have none." The samurai smiled.  
"I have recovered one of them, the rest will be found soon." The Chi Sorcerer replied. He fell into a fighting stance. In his outstretched hand his trusty bejeweled dagger materialized into existence. "I do have one thing to be thankful to the Kami for, since you are still alive I have a second chance to kill you."  
"As do I." Hikaru replied slowly with a smile.  
Both mortal enemies let fly a battle cry as they raced from ends of the yard to middle. Both men concentrated their chi energies for their attacks, and when katana struck dagger the burst of energy was overwhelming. The two combatants hold their ground as their opposing chi forces warred with one another, then exploded sending the two men flying towards opposite side of the yard once again.  
  
"That Kun Lao guy sounds like he's another Happosai, on steroids." Ranma-chan said before taking a bite of her fruit sundae. She and the girls were in her favorite place near the old Fureinken Hospital, where she encountered a certain old man who could do Soul Traveling. They and Tenchi's own bunch parted ways at the movie theater and were going to meet back up at Ucchan's for some okonomiyaki later. This trip was just a detour after Ranma had a close encounter with a street cleaner, which is why he was a she at the moment. Fortunately, Shampoo had jumped just in time, or they would have a kawaii little kitty with them.  
"At least Grandpa Happosai does actually try to do it with out, he just gropes." Akane shuddered. It was difficult to imagine the old freaking trying to do anything like that, of course he certainly had the physical strength to do it.  
"I wonder, Ranma honey, if that Hikaru kid and those chi blasts you've been feeling are related at all." Said Ukyo.  
"I got no idea." Ranma-chan confessed.  
"Shampoo think he and Kasumi look kawaii together." Shampoo smiled.  
"But, its scary how Kasumi's changed in personality overnight." Said Akane.  
"Its better than her usual airhead Mihoshi act." Nabiki interjected.  
"Nabiki!" Akane scolded.  
Ranma scratched the back of her head and said, "Kasumi can be flighty, but not at that an extreme."  
"Hey, look who's here." Came Tenchi's voice as he and his groupies entered the ice cream shop.  
"How was the movie?" Akane asked.  
"Pretty good, but what's with that J.R.R. Tolkein anyway," Ryoko snorted. "You'd almost think that Arrigorn guy was a Tenchi wannabe."  
"Its just a movie, Ryoko." Tenchi sighed.  
"What did you guys do?" Washu asked.  
"We went all over the place, we even went to Tokyo Tower." Said Ranma-chan.  
"It was fun until that weird boom box monster attacked us," Nabiki frowned. "Before anyone could fight it though these wacky girls in sailor foku showed up and blew it up."  
"You think that's weird, when we left the theater we saw this green haired girl in a yellow tiger stripped bikini chasing this teenaged kid down the street and she was giving him electric shock treatment." Washu laughed.  
"You meet the weirdest people in this city." Aeka sighed.  
"We still gonna hang at Ucchan's later?" Ranma-chan asked as she finished off her sundae.  
Ryoko laughed, "Thinking with your stomach as usual, Saotome."  
"Look who's talking." Aeka teased her playfully.  
"Sounds good to me." Tenchi says.  
Tenchi buys the girls what they want from the man at the counter and they join Ranma and others taking a table right next to theirs.  
"It'll be a nice change eating something I haven't prepared myself." Said Sasami.  
"You do enough work for all us put together, Sasami." Tenchi beamed her his best smile, the kind that melts a girl's heart as fast a Hershey's Kiss under a blow torch. With immense joy she hugs him, on the other side of her link her other half thinks other thoughts. It is a real struggle for the Kami Tsunami to keep from finishing the assimilation right there and then so she could have her own crack at him later on that night.  
An hour later they were up in Ukyo's old room at Ucchan's. She kept the place for just in case, like this sort of get together. A stack of several dirty dishes sat in the corner. Ranma and Ryoko alone ate five okonomiyaki, and they were still chowing down on potato chips. While Tenchi and Ranma were doing their male bonding thing by talking out on Ukyo's upper floor balcony, the girls were all gathered around a specific book Washu discovered.  
"Let me see!" Sasami groaned with impatience. The girls literally created a wall with their hair as they surrounded the item in question so she couldn't see.  
"When you're older." Aeka told her.  
"That looks painful, I didn't know the human body could bend like that." Said Akane.  
"These guys can't be human, only invertebrates can bend like that." Ryoko snorted.  
"You're wrong there Ryoko, this is an ancient book from the Hindu in India, a country in South Central Asia, on Earth." Washu explained.  
"That one looks like fun, but Ranma honey and I would be pretty sore in the morning." Ukyo commented.  
"That girl's gotta be double or triple jointed!" Akane gasped.  
"I wanna see!" Sasami whined again, still unable to get around the other girls.  
"NO!" the girls all relied at once.  
"Tenchi and I could easily do this one." Aeka point to one of the pictures.  
"Sorry, Princess, beat ya to it." Ryoko sneered.  
"Damn." The Juraian princess snapped her fingers.  
"Hey, you could try that one." Ryoko pointed.  
Aeka looked at the picture and gasped, "What do I look like a Juraian pretzel?"  
"Who knew there were so many different ways to screw a guy." Nabiki commented with a wide eyed expression.  
"Shampoo could teach vaginal muscle techniques." The Amazon smiled.  
"Vaginal muscle techniques?" Akane inquired.  
"You use that on Ranma yet?" Washu asked with a coy expression. The Amazon answered with a nod and a Cheshire cat smile.  
"Airen say he saw stars." Shampoo told her.  
"How's it work?" Akane asked.  
"You flex your vaginal muscles in just the right place to engage pressure points on his, you know what, and he's suddenly soaring through la la land." Washu explained.  
"OOOOHHHH!" the girls all chorused at once then giggled like they were school girls.  
  
"Wonder what's got them so happy?" Ranma, now a boy, asked hearing the laughter from inside.  
"I stopped trying to figure them out a long time ago." Tenchi replied.  
"Girls, can't live with them and can't live without them." Ranma sighed. "I sometimes wonder how I got roped into this hold harem thing, but when I look back I guess this is the best way to go."  
"Oh?" Tenchi looked up.  
"Yeah, I mean, I love Akane, very much, I really like Shampoo, who wouldn't, I mean look at that body, and Ucchan and me have been friend for so long." Ranma went on. "Nabiki, I'm trying to figure that one out but she's really nice once she stops trying to sell you or blackmail you, and besides she's a terrific kisser."  
Tenchi sighed, "Do you know how hard it's been trying to keep my virginity all of this time. Let me tell you it was near to impossible."  
"You mean you haven't..." Ranma was surprised.  
"I was going to say near to impossible until a little before you guys felt the house last year." Tenchi smiled.  
"Ah." Ranma smiled.  
"You know, making it with Ryoko wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, I mean knowing her I thought she was into that rough stuff, but in fact she loves it slow and soft." Tenchi sighed wistfully. "Aeka, now she surprised me, that girl has the most violent orgasms I've ever seen, and my dad has a huge collection of orgasm scene tapes at home."  
Ranma laughed hilariously compelling Tenchi to ask, "What's so funny?"  
"Listen to us, if we tried to talk like this last year we'd both die of blood loss from our nosebleeds." Ranma chuckled.  
"Getting nailed by our iinazuke a couple a dozen times in a week tends to do that to you." Tenchi smiled.  
Suddenly Ranma grabbed his head and cried out. Similar cried issued from inside the building. Akane and others stumbled out onto the balcony looking like they were undergoing intense pain.  
"What the hell is that?" Akane groaned.  
"Its skull splitting whatever it is." Ukyo said wincing from the pain.  
"I don't hear a thing, do you Aeka?" Ryoko asked.  
"No, Sasami?" Aeka asked her little sister.  
"I don't hear anything, but can certainly feel it." The little princess replied. "Miya!" Ryo-Ohki added.  
Washu called up her computer and checked the local region. "WOW! It's a humungous blast of chi energy, like nothing I've ever seen before!" she gasped.  
"Its source is at the Tendo place!" she added.  
Without hesitation the entire group raced from the okonomiyaki shop and headed for the Tendo dojo as fast as their legs would carry them. Ranma carried Nabiki and he and the girls bounded over the rooftops, Ryoko carried Aeka and Tenchi while Sasami clutched her around the neck hanging off her back. They made good time and arrived at the dojo just in time to see a massive explosion of energy.  
The blast he made a mess of the Tendo property, demolishing the dojo and badly damaging the house. Everyone watched a Hikaru Kuno struggled to his feet and fell into a fighting stance with his sword at the ready, on the other side of yard was a most unlikely sight. Hikaru Gosunkugi stood up wielding a bejeweled dagger as if he knew how to handle the weapon. Before everyone's eyes the battle was renewed as the two combatants went at one another but gave no ground, allowed no opening, and seemed to be almost even matched in fighting prowess.  
"Is that Gosunkugi?" Akane asked in surprise.  
"I didn't know the little twerp could fight like that." Ranma gasped as he watched the thin boy perform complicated dagger thrusts, flips, and blocking maneuvers which moved almost too fast for even him to follow.  
"AIYA!" Shampoo watched in amazement.  
"Its always the quiet ones." Nabiki commented.  
"Do you see the look on his face, scary." Ukyo shuttered.  
"SON-IN-LAW!" came Cologne's call as she bounded towards them with the rest of the residents of the Tendo home behind her.  
"What's going on, why is Gosunkugi fighting Hikaru?" Ranma asked her.  
"I fear, we are all in grave danger, the one you call Gosunkugi is no more, and apparently has not been himself for some time." The Matriarch replied.  
"Huh?" everyone replied.  
"What do you mean, not himself?" Akane asked.  
"Through dealings with the Yakuza and the Hong Kong mafia he obtained an artifact that has been hidden in the mountains around Josenkyo for six hundred years." Cologne explained and held up the item in question. "The boy you knew as Hikaru Gosunkugi is no more, and never will be again, for now he is someone else. He is the Lord of Josenkyo, scourge of the Nyanchiczu, the Oni Chi Sorcerer Kun Lao himself!"  
"WHAT?!" Tenchi, Ranma, and everyone else all cried out at once.  
Their eyes turned to regard the young boy as he unleashed a devastating blast of chi energy that knocked Hikaru Kuno across the yard.  
"HIKARU!" Kasumi cried and ran to him despite the efforts of everyone to stop her. She kneeled down beside her beloved then looked up at the malevolent Chi Sorcerer in his new body.  
"You?" he said.  
"You monster!" Kasumi spat.  
"Now I know the Kami had something to do with this." The Chi Sorcerer laughed. "Oh, this is just too delicious, not only do a get to kill that worthless ronin all over again, but I get to relive some good times you and I had together, my dear Sakumi."  
"Over our dead bodies!" came the shouts of several voices to the side. He turned and watched several people run into the yard and place themselves between him and the two lovers. They were, of course, the boys Ranma Saotome and Tenchi Masaki, and the most incredible gathering of the world's most beautiful creatures he's ever seen.  
"Tempting as it is to oblige you at the moment I have other pressing matters to attend to." Kun Lao said. He was not about to tempt fate and face these super-powers just yet, not while he only possessed one of the sacred keys. He was a patient man, but the fact that they know he is alive complicates matters. They will be after him to stop him, unless he gives them sufficient distraction, and he knew just the source for such a distraction.  
"Consider this a rare act of mercy on my part, for when next we meet Ranma Saotome and Tenchi Masaki, it will be the last time." And with that the Chi Sorcerer stepped forward and vanished into thin air.  
  
"Matters are most grave." Cologne sighed.  
Everyone was inside the Tendo home now gathered around the dinner table. Sasami and Ukyo brought them all refreshments while Kasumi tenderly saw to Hikaru's many wounds.  
"That's a really big freaking understatement!" Ranma growled.  
"All I have ever known of the great and powerful Kun Lao are the legends told to me when I was young." Said Rouge as she sat with her nieces, Salt and Pepper.  
"Most of the worst stories about him are true, the man is most vile and deranged." Hikaru said in a tired voice.  
"This feels like facing Kagato all over again." Ryoko sighed and Tenchi put his arm around her to reassure her.  
"If we had killed him today his Oni spirit would have sought out a new host." Cologne explained. "The phoenix blood potion he took transformed him into something most foul six hundred years ago."  
"Then how the hell do we stop something that can't be killed?" Ranma asked.  
Cologne tossed the Soul Prison onto the table. "Alas, I fear this will not help us, for in my research while waiting for the twins to find out what happened to the artifact I learned it can only be used once on the same entity."  
"You mean we can't trap him again like Hikaru did six hundred years ago!" Tenchi exclaimed.  
"I'm afraid not." Cologne shook her head.  
"Aiya. Legends of him are most foul, he is a terrible man." Shampoo said trying to keep from crying.  
"We're sorry we disappointed you Matriarch." Salt said looking downcast.  
"It wasn't your fault, Kun Lao was free long before you began your investigation." Cologne reassured her.  
"So, he's the one who summoned the demon at Fureinken High, and I bet he's the one who really rapped Miss. Hinako." Said Ranma.  
"A Chi Sorcerer can manipulate the thoughts of the weak minded and even effect memories." Pepper explained. "His will is especially strong."  
"Speaking of memories, you Rouge have a gap in yours." Cologne told her.  
"What?" Rouge said in shock.  
"You have about an hour's worth of memories missing from your mind, that I can tell." The Matriarch told her.  
"But, that would mean," she hugged her arms to herself and made a degusted expression. "No, no, he didn't, he couldn't!"  
"I could tell it from your aura, he controlled your thoughts, had his way with you, and erased all evidence of it from your body and mind." Cologne said calmly.  
"Ewww! He, he had his hands, no ME!" the Amazon cried. "Oh, I gotta wash, is there such a thing as sandpaper soap!"  
"There's no tell how many young girls in Nerima fell victim to him already." Aeka spoke up.  
"Likely he underestimated the tenacity of the local police when he took that teacher, so he summoned the demon to take us off his trail, and kept a low profile ever since then." Washu surmised. "This guy may be a nutcase, but if history is any lesson we know that insanity and stupidity do not always go hand in hand."  
"I hear that sugar, like Hitler, he was a real nutball but also a certified genius." Said Ukyo.  
"He will be after the other Keys." Hikaru spoke up.  
"A Shinto shrine in Nagasaki was blown sky high by some powerful force just this morning." Genma informed them. "Could that be one of the places these Keys are hidden?"  
"It was the location of the first Key." Cologne nodded.  
"Where are the others?" Tenchi asked.  
"One of Hikaru's fellow samurai who traveled with him to Josenkyo brought the first key back with him." Cologne explained. "His line started the shrine at Nagasaki, the other Keys were scattered around the world, stolen by antiquity thieves, sold in auctions, lost in natural disasters and wars. It is almost impossible to tell where they keys are located without using divining magic to locate them."  
"That's our department!" the two twins cheered.  
The girls regarded these two for the first time and their eyes narrowed. The Amazon Chi Sorceresses were just way too kawaii. They were voluptuous girls with flowing hourglass figures, enormous busts that made them seem extremely top heavy, and a pair of faces that were more child-like than pretty. It made for a look that was a devastating combination of kawaii and sexy at the same time. Added to that is their choice of dress, iddy biddy little leather string bikinis with tiny balls of white and black fur for additional kawaii-ness. The girls hated them on sight, especially when they looked at Tenchi and Ranma with those wide eyed expressions of delight. If looks could kill the collective stares of all the girls should have vaporized the twins within seconds.  
"The twins are right, they're the only ones who can find the other keys before he does." Rouge said.  
"The Keys that open that fountain thing that can make him into a god." Said Tenchi.  
"Yes, the very one." Cologne nodded. "But the chamber can only opened when using all five Keys during a full-moon."  
"Then we've got some time to spare then." Said Ranma.  
"Not too much, the twins will need to do most of the work trailing the other keys for us." Cologne explained.  
"The Keys work to boost Kun Lao's powers, so right now he's not strong enough to beat all of us together." Salt explained.  
"So finding them before he does should be priority one." Said Washu.  
"Well, here we go again, Ryoko." Aeka sighed.  
"Hey, it beats moping around the house with nothing to do." The space pirate replied.  
"Do not underestimate him, with us together he can't defeat us, but on a one to one basis he could, as they say, mop the floor with us." Cologne warmed them.  
"Now that he's exposed he's gonna be keeping an even lower profile, so tracking his movements will be very hard." Washu sighed.  
"We must remain sharp and weary." Said Cologne. "He has many resources at his disposal, many powerful underlings who still live today whom he could call upon. The worst of all being the Lich, and the creature known as Gaal."  
"He could strike at us, at many moment." She continued.  
  
The city was called Hiroshima, in Kun Lao's time it was a small village, and now like Tokyo and other major cities in modern day Japan it was huge and bustling with activity. It amazed the Chi Sorcerer how much technology had advanced since his day. From Hikaru Gosunkugi's memories and from modern day tomes he read, Kun Lao knew this city was all but totally destroyed in the last global war. The country called "America" has used a new weapon that harnessed the power of natural forces they were only just beginning to understand and created a terrible weapon called a Nuclear Bomb. The city was rebuilt on the ashes of the old, but the scars of that terrible weapon could still be seen.  
Kun Lao wasn't concerned with such things, however, he was interested in his goal. His destination with a cemetery that sat near the edge of the city, an ancient burial ground dating back to the feudal era. Many of the grave markers bore the scars of that terrible day when the "Enola Gay", a flying machine belonging to the American's, changed the history of the world and started a serious of events that would result in something historians called "The Cold War". It was out of necessity that he expended the energy to come here, he did not realize he would be needing the assistance of his ancient servant so soon. The return of the "ronin" made this a necessity, not only because of his return, but because he threw in his lot with the Saotome boy and his Juraian cousin. Now they will learn what happens to those who dare to oppose the will of Kun Lao. They will face the horrors of his greatest servant...The Lich.   
__________  
To be continued...  
  
Next time...  
Part 4: Enter Ranko  
Washu devises what she hopes will be a cure for Ranma's curse, but it has unexpected results that changes everything at the Tendo house forever. Meanwhile, Kun Lao has acquired the first key to the Chamber of Ascension. His servant The Lich has awakened to create a distraction, now Ranma, Tenchi, and now the family faces their most challenging threat yet. The Undead! 


	4. Part 4: Enter Ranko

DISCLAIMER: "Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki" is a registered trademark and copyright of AIC Inc. and Pioneer. "Ranma 1/2" is a registered trademark and copyright of Rumiko Takahashi, Viz Communications and Kitty Productions.  
__________  
  
T E N C H I 1 / 2: FAMILY REUNION II  
  
By Michael "TheZorch" Haney  
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PART 4: Enter Ranko  
  
Kasumi awoke slowly from her wonderful dreams and emerged into a reality that was equally as wonderful, despite a certain ancient Chi Sorcerer who was on the loose. She felt the warm body that lay next to her and smiled. Kasumi rolled over and draped her arm over that body. The person stirred then rolled over to face her.  
"Good morning, beloved." She whispered. "Did you sleep well?"  
"Best sleep of my entire life." Hikaru replied softly. "But, I am still uncomfortable with this, it is really improper for us to sleep together before we are properly married."  
"I know, but I couldn't help myself." Kasumi smiled.  
"Nor could I." Hikaru smiled back.  
The lovers embraced and kissed, which sparked more kissing, which eventually lead to a continuation of their activities from the night before in earnest. Downstairs, breakfast wasn't being neglected by Kasumi's absence as Sasami darted around the kitchen in her carrot motif apron with Ryo-Ohki in child form helping her. The girls were all gathered in the dining room enjoying tea and watching this incredible display of culinary wizardry take place.  
"She sure has a lot of energy." Said Akane.  
"She's not the only one." Said Ukyo as she watched the scantly clad twins, Salt and Pepper, spar with one another out in the yard. Both girls wielded twin scimitars which were flashing and whirling at blinding speed. The sound of metal meeting metal came as rapidly as a drum roll.  
"Aiya! Shampoo almost forget about Hentai Twins!" Shampoo gasped.  
"Hentai Twins?" Aeka said questioningly.  
"One word of advice to all of you, don't let one of my nieces get one of your boyfriend's alone, keep a close eye on them." Rouge warned them.  
"What's up with that?" Ryoko asked.  
"The twins were very powerful chi energy manipulators when they were very young, in fact their powers developed very early, but caused side effects." Cologne explained. "The massive surge of chi energy within them kick started their puberty cycle when they were only six years old."  
"Puberty, at six years of age!" Ukyo gasped.  
"I heard of girls blossoming early, but this is ridiculous." Nabiki sighed.  
"Yes, it caused severe hormonal imbalances in them to develop so young, which is also why they are so strikingly beautiful." Replied Cologne. "They appear to be only children at sixteen years of age, but they are truly adults of twenty-five years of age. They know how gorgeous they look, and its one of their many weapons. That is not all, however, their looks drew the attention of many young men in our village, and one day I'm not sure when one of them 'got lucky'."  
"So they lost their virginity at an early age, so what." Said Ryoko.  
"It effected them more than you think, soon after 'it' happened it was almost as if they were different people altogether." Rouge said. "They started dressing the way they do now, and flirted with just about every boy in the village, including Mousse."  
"So what does that mean?" Akane asked.  
"What it means, sugar, is they became a pair of nymphets and probably boinked every cute guy in sight." Ukyo explained.  
"Oh my." Aeka gasped as she looked out at the two go at it like a pair of humanoid meat grinders.  
"AIYA! They make finding good date almost impossible!" Shampoo groaned.  
"Well, if they lay a finger on my Tenchi I'll shove those swords where the sun doesn't shine." Ryoko growled.  
"So that's why you call them the Hentai Twins, eh?" Washu smirked.  
"They're pretty selective with who they 'entertain', and if they think a boy is cute you can bet they do everything within their power to bed him as soon as possible." Rouge explained.  
"The same power that turned them into two sexual dynamos is also the same power that will help us defeat Kun Lao's plans to get the Keys to the Chamber of Ascension." Cologne emphasized.  
"They act rather, worldly for Amazons." Akane observed.  
"Their profession requires them to travel beyond the boarders of Nyanchiczu lands." Rouge explained to her. "They've had more exposure to outside cultures than the rest of us."  
"I bet they've had quite a many 'exposures'." Ryoko snorted.  
Cologne looked at her fellow Amazon and asked, "Should we tell them about Beijing?"  
"Why not, they'll probably hear about it sometime or other." Rouge shrugged.  
"What about Beijing?" Ukyo asked.  
"AIYA!!!! Is too embarrassing to speak of!" Shampoo gasped.  
"On one of the twin's many outings they discovered Beijing University, or more accurately the boy's dormitory." Rouge spoke reciting the story. "So naturally my nieces didn't take a gift horse in the mouth and took advantage of the situation. The girl's dorm found out what was happening and it nearly caused a riot on campus. The twins, being what they are, decided to fix thing with some magic, but they kind of overdid it. So, for four hours, the entire campus of Beijing University turned into one giant roaring orgy! It caused such a scandal the communist government ordered it all to be covered up, but of course they were never able to link the incident to the Nyanchiczu."  
There was deafening silence around the table until Ryoko broke out in hysterical laughter. "Oh damn, I don't know whether to love or hate those two, oh that was just too rich!" she guffawed.  
"Geeze, who's worse, them or Happosai." Ukyo gasped.  
"Oh, don't mention his name around them, they hate Happy with a passion." Cologne warned.  
Ukyo and the others grinned brightly, "Oh, they do, do they."  
  
Ranma and Tenchi bounded over the rooftops back towards the Tendo dojo. It was risky going alone to Hikaru Gosunkugi's place, but they had to see for themselves. The two arrived very early in the morning just as the sun was coming up and slowly inched their way to the boy's bedroom window. When they looked in the place was cleared out, the many books on the shelves were missing, the bed was gone, the desk, and a number of other items.  
"Well, he's cleared out." Said Tenchi.  
"Yeah, but where is he now?" asked Ranma.  
Gosunkugi's parents were found in the living room. Neither boy knew how long they'd been dead. The two sat on the couch as if they were watching television together and had slumped to the side against one another. The youths quickly made a getaway from the place before anyone saw them lurking around the house. Now they were bounding over the rooftops headed home.  
"That creep, why'd he have to kill them for." Ranma growled through clenched teeth.  
"He's as sick as many of the stories we've heard about him." Tenchi commented.  
They both arrived at the dojo at the same time and alighted in the back yard. Their arrival was noted by a pair of scantly clad twins who stopped their morning sparing and turned kawaii, surprised expressions in their direction.  
"Uh oh, red alert at six o'clock girls!" Ukyo warned. They all turned to see Ranma and Tenchi in the yard, but what they were noting was the reaction from the twins.  
"Ooooohhh! Cute boys!" the twins chorused.  
"Uh." Tenchi let out stepping back.  
"Oh boy." Ranma breathed seeing the way they looked at him and his cousin.  
A loud rumbled came from the house and suddenly a wall of women stood between them and the twins. "DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!" they call yelled at once.  
"Hey, we saw them first!" Salt cried.  
"Yeah, finders keepers, losers weepers!" cried Pepper.  
"We're engaged to them you perverts!" the girls cried back.  
The twins made those kawaii smiles and said in unison, "Oh, a challenge is it."  
"Uh oh." Cologne sighed from the sidelines.  
Rouge walked from the house and clapped her hands making the twins look in her direction. "Girls, you promised to behave when you were here, and Ranma and Tenchi are already spoke for so don't get any ideas." She told them.  
"But Aunt Rouge!" the twins cried together.  
"No, those two boys are off limits." Rouge folded her arms and gave the twins a stern look.  
"Geeze, you're as much a wet blanket as Cologne." Salt sighed as the twins went into the house.  
The girls watched them leave and Akane said to Rouge, "Thanks, you handled them well." The Amazon smiled at her saying, "Well, I practically raised them after their parents passed away, so I have some leverage with them." Cologne joined them and smiled, "But, don't think that will deter them forever."  
"We intend to keep our eyes on them." Said Aeka.  
"What was all that about just now?" asked Ranma, Tenchi stood beside him just scratched the back of his head.  
"Oh, nothing you need to worry yourself about, sugar." Ukyo smiled at him.  
  
In an abandoned building on the outskirts of the city of Hiroshima, stood a single figure draped in black robes. Kun Lao paced around in from of this imposing figure as if deep in thought. He had been extremely careless and foolish, and Kun Lao knew it. He gave away the fact of his existence long before he was ready to deal with Ranma Saotome and his powerful cousin. Now he had to double his efforts to find the remaining keys, but that would not be easy. Worse was the knowledge that his ancient nemesis Hikaru Kuno was alive and well and reunited with his lost love, who was a reincarnation of Sakumi. That whole affair had the stink of the Kami all over it. Kun Lao wasn't about to let that transgression go unpunished. Once he found all the keys and opened the sacred chamber he'd make the Kami pay dearly for interfering.  
His attention had to be directed towards his enemies. It was unwise to underestimate your foe, and Kun Lao wasn't about to fall into that trap. He stopped his pacing and looked up at his companion who stood there as silently as death and did not move. Ranma and his cousin needed something to keep them busy, something of immediate urgency that would distract them from trying to follow him. He had to relocate to this place outside of Hiroshima. Upon leaving he mercifully freed Hikaru Gosunkugi's parents of their mortal coils instead of leaving them behind. He no longer needed them as camouflage and taking them along would have been bothersome. The Chi Sorcerer stopped his pacing and regarded the hooded figure before him.  
"I have only one of the keys, and locating the others will take time." He said. The cloaked figure did not speak or move.  
"I need you to provide a distraction for my enemies, use everything at your disposal, but keep them busy while I search." He went on. The cloaked figured nodded.  
"Good, the place you need to be is a place called Nerima." Kun Lao told the thing. "You are my most powerful servant, do not fail me."  
"Yes, sire." The cloaked figure spoke, its voice was high pitched and sounded hollow as if coming from a great depth. A pair of red, glowing eyes peered out from the darkness beneath the cloak. A pair of gloved hands emerged the billowing cloak surrounding the figure and began to weave an intricate rune pattern in the air. Within seconds the rune began to glow, the glow grew to the size of the cloaked figure and engulfed it. A loud sound like a clash of thunder resounded as the figure suddenly vanished.  
"Now, we shall see how powerful you really are, Ranma Saotome and Tenchi Masaki." Kun Lao laughed. "Let us see you deal with my most powerful servant, the Lich."  
  
The Hentai Twins sat in the middle of the living room face to face in lotus positions with the flat of their palms pressed against one another's. The two beauties kept their eyes closed as they softly chanted arcane phrases. A soft glowing aura surrounded them as they worked.  
"Locating the keys this way will be hard the keys were made to evade detection unless you know how to find them." Said Cologne.  
"So, it could take a few days?" asked Akane.  
"Try a few weeks." The matriarch replied.  
"But, what if that creeps finds the next one before we do?" Ryoko asked.  
"Not likely, Kun Lao has to work hard to find the keys." Cologne explained to her. "They are sacred objects."  
"So it's a race, us against him." Said Sasami.  
"I'm afraid so, little one." Cologne told her.  
Deep within the bowels of her subspace laboratory, Washu sat before her computer terminal looking over all of the data from her Josenkyo research. She wanted to get his project done so she could concentrate on helping to locate the keys before Kun Lao did. All the data she had on how the curse functions sat before her, as well as data scans of both Ranma and many cursed lab animals she had.  
"Alright, if this works, Ranma will be one happy camper." She said.  
A single white rabbit was held within a large specimen unit in the center of the room. Washu pressed a key and a spray of cold water showering the creature. The transformation was instantaneous. Where once there was a lab rabbit there was now a beautiful, and naked human girl. The girl looked around as if frightened with a wide eyed expression. She sat on all fours like a rabbit and sniffed the air for danger.  
"If my analysis is correct, this cursed rabbit should be capable of human intelligence in this form if properly nurtured." Said Washu. "Which on a scientific standpoint is absolutely amazing! Also, the transformation goes against all the laws of physics, causing a rearrangement of the cellular, genetic, and molecular structure of the victim. There is also spontaneous growth of new cellular material to make up the rest of the bulk needed to change to full human adult size. In previous analysis and examination of the cursed subjects and of Ranma Saotome himself I have discovered a strange energy source common in each of them. This energy is ethereal in nature and exists at a rather high frequency on the bio-etheric spectrum. It is my belief that this is the energy pattern of the curse, and it is known that two opposing bio-etheric waves cancel each other out. Thus, subjecting the cursed subject to such a wave should cancel out the bio-etheric energy of the curse within them and effectively cure them of any further transformations. End log and save file."  
The diminutive genius pressed another key and sprayed warm water into the chamber transforming the young girl back into a rabbit. She typed a series of commands into her computer, large waldos, a series of highly maneuverable mechanical arms, moved a doughnut shaped piece of instrumentation over top of the specimen chamber. The floor shook as the massive device was set into place.  
"Testing phase level one." Said Washu. She pressed a series of keys and the device sprang to life. A smaller ring dropped down from the large doughnut shaped device and was lowered to the floor around the specimen chamber by three cables. "Phase two." Said Washu. The ring began to glow and the space between it took on a feint bluish luminescence. "Phase three." Washu went on. The ring slowly rose off the floor, the blue luminescence surrounded the little rabbit for a brief moment. Washu monitored the animal and watched as the bio-etheric energy levels within it slowly began to fade. She clapped her hands and smiled like a Cheshire cat. When the device was doing making its pass over the rabbit, it went the rest of the way up and back into the device where it came from.  
"Now, the final test." Said Washu. She pressed a key and sprayed cold water into the chamber. The rabbit did not change.  
Washu leapt from her chair and made a "V" sign with her fingers. "Alright, I am a genius!" she cheered.  
A few hours later Ranma, Tenchi, and all the girls were gathered in the lab. Cologne and Rouge gaped in astonishment at the wondrous surroundings. The twins were still in the house divining the location of the next key. Washu learned a long time ago that long winded, jargon filled explanations of her technology just rolled over the heads of everyone else in the household. So she used simple words, to her distaste, and explained the machine and how it worked.  
"So, this thing will like cure me and Shampoo?" Ranma asked.  
"You got it." Washu smiled.  
"Cool!" Ranma shouted.  
"Aiya, no more cat curse!" Shampoo cheered and grabbed Ranma's arm.  
"Do you truly believe curing Shampoo and my son-in-law will be that simple?" Cologne asked the pink headed genius.  
"Of course, I tested the device myself on a cursed specimen." Washu replied with her hands on her hips.  
The Amazon matriarch folded her arms as she balanced on her staff and said, "We shall see."  
Washu ushered Ranma towards the device and pushed him gently into a large glass tube. She closed it and went to her computer terminal. "Lets see your girl half one last time." She said and pressed a key that sprayed cold water into the chamber.  
"Say goodbye to your feminine side, Ranma." Washu continued and pressed the key that sprayed warm water. She typed a series of commands and device above Ranma began to hum. The ring dropped down and began to bath Ranma in its blue glow as it slowly tracked back upwards. He felt a strange tingling sensation throughout his body, similar to the feeling he had when he was first cursed. The machine finished its pass over him and Washu pressed the key spraying cold water again.  
"Ahhh! Its cold!" boy Ranma exclaimed.  
"YES!" Ranma cried as he looked at himself and noticed the absence of breasts.  
"Aiya! Smart Washu do it, she cure Ranma!" Shampoo gasped.  
"Your turn." Washu told the Amazon as she opened the chamber releasing Ranma and guided her in to take his place. Washu quickly ran through the same routine turning Shampoo into a cat and back again, but forgetting that she drops her clothes when that happens. Ryoko and Aeka cover Tenchi's eyes when a naked Shampoo appeared in the tube, threatening to give him a huge nosebleed, after a douse of warm water changed her back. The two girls eyed Washu with menacing glances.  
"Opps, a simple miscalculation. I got some extra robes you can put on when we're done Shampoo." Washu grinned sheepishly. She started the machine and when it was done she sprayed cold water on the Amazon with the same predictable result.  
"AIYA! Shampoo no more turn into kitty!" the Amazon cheered. Washu opened the chamber and gave the naked beauty a robe to put on. She immediately ran to Ranma's open arms and they kissed each other passionately.  
"Do you doubt me now?" Washu asked the Nyanchiczu matriarch. Cologne looked look at her and said, "As I said, we shall see."  
"You don't trust science at all, do you?" Washu asked her.  
"It is not that," Cologne replied. "It is the blatant way you are underestimating the raw forces of magic. You cannot apply scientific explanations to it, if you try you are doomed to fail. I am merely biding my time until the moment comes when you finally see this for yourself. I only hope it will not bode badly for Shampoo and my son-in-law."  
"You'll see, this cure will stick and nothing bad will happen." Washu frowned.  
"We shall see." Was all Cologne would say as a reply.  
Chatting with each other happily about Ranma and Shampoo's cure the group made their way out the lab and back to the Tendo house. Far back in the same section of the lab sat the test rabbit in its specimen chamber munching on a carrot. The little animal looked around at its surroundings nervously and sniffed the air. It could feel something strange, but was unable to see or smell it. Sensitive instruments in the chamber began to detect strange energy levels suddenly and spontaneously appearing inside the animal. The computers started recording data as the power levels increased at astonishing rate. A bright aura surrounded the little animal, it steadily grew into a bonfire of pure bio-etheric energy that lasted for several minutes. When the light finally died down the little rabbit was still munching away, but occupying the chamber with it was a tall, beautiful, and quite naked young woman.  
  
It was later that evening, the twins sat at the dinner table with the others looking very tired from their intensive search. They explained that exerting that amount of power all day was draining and would need a good night sleep to replenish their strength for the next day. Ranma and Shampoo sat together, it was really the first time they could be this close without fear of the Amazon getting hit with cold water and turning into a cat. Ranma loved her just as much as the other girls, but also feared the Nekoken just as much. Kasumi and Sasami worked together to make dinner that night and it was a huge feast to celebrate their cures.  
"We are in a dark time, with a new enemy threatening us, so it is good that we have this happy event to celebrate the curing of Ranma and Shampoo to lift our spirits." Said Aeka as she lifted her sake glass.  
"I here that." Ryoko said, and lifted her glass.  
"I'm happy for you both." Said Tenchi, saluting with his cup.  
"This is indeed a happy day." Soun Tendo added.  
"No more having to deal with guys making passes at me in girl form." Ranma smiled. "And no more groping from Happosai."  
"Shampoo no have to worry about Animal Control when she stuck in cat form." Shampoo sighed.  
"I do not understand how this was done, I was aware Josenkyo curses could never be cured, but I am happy for you none the less." Hikaru Kuno saluted with his glass with Kasumi sitting happily at his side.  
"Our next goal now is finding the keys before Kun Lao does." Said Cologne.  
"That we're working on, we might be close to finding the next one." Said Salt.  
"Cool, then we can give that butthead a real pounding!" Ranma exclaimed slapping his fist into his other palm.  
"Do not underestimate him." Hikaru warned. "He is a skilled warrior as well as a powerful magician."  
"Yeah, we saw how he fought you last night." Ukyo pointed out.  
"A dagger against a katana, he's gotta be pretty good." Nabiki observed.  
"According to legend he defeated the great Ambrosia, Shampoo's ancestor, and the greatest warrior in Amazon history." Rouge explained to them.  
Ryoko put an arm around Tenchi and hugged him tightly. "Well, he's no match for my Tenchi." She cooed.  
"Nothing short of the Light Hawk Wings will defeat him." Cologne pointed out. "When the time comes to face him it will be the great test of courage either son-in-law or Tenchi has ever faced."  
"That guy can't be a tough as Tokimi, could he?" Mihoshi asked, who was finally back from an extended assignment and was told about the situation.  
"I hope not." Said a worried Sasami.  
"I think the rest of us not actively working on locating the keys should start training tomorrow." Ranma suggested. "If this Kun Lao guy is really that tough it might take all of us to take him down."  
"Sounds like a plan." Akane smiled.  
"I haven't practiced Juraijitsu in ages." Aeka laughed.  
"Mother is a grandmaster at it." Sasami added.  
"I never knew Jurai had martial arts." Tenchi looked at the princesses with surprise.  
Aeka laughed and covered her mouth saying, "But, Lord Tenchi, who do you think taught the Japanese their fighting styles."  
"That's right, all modern day martial arts styles have their origins in basic Juraijitsu." Washu explained.  
"You pull Shampoo's leg?" the Amazon looked at her.  
"Wow, no wonder the Amazon's have legends about Jurai." Said Akane.  
"Indeed, many legends." Cologne spoke up. "It is said the great Ambrosia herself was descended from Juraian royal blood."  
"Huh?" Aeka looked at her with surprise.  
"Ambrosia Shampoo's great, great, great, great grandmother." Shampoo smiled.  
"But, that would mean that Shampoo is, uh, like a member of the royal family already." Said Ranma, astonished.  
"Miss. Cologne, do you know the name of Lady Ambrosia's Juraian ancestor?" Aeka asked her.  
"According to legend his name was Gaitoma." The matriarch answered.  
Aeka gasped, "There is a Gaitoma in the lists of the royal family, he was the brother of Horuku Masaki, second Emperor of Jurai."  
"I wondered where she got the purple hair from." Nabiki mused.  
"Then it could be a good number of Amazons are descants of the royal family of Jurai." Soun realized.  
"Very likely." Aeka replied.  
"Great, more royals, you people sure have a way of spreading your seed around." Ryoko commented. "Tenchi is the exception though."  
"Gee, thanks." Tenchi groaned.  
"You didn't really expect my brother to live here on Earth for seven hundred years without having a romance or two." Aeka glanced over at the former space pirate.  
"Lets get back on the main subject, ok." Ranma interrupted.  
"Yes, Lord Ranma, you're quite right." Aeka replied.  
"Starting tomorrow, Shampoo, Ukyo, Akane, Ryoko, Aeka, Mihoshi, and Tenchi will join me in the dojo so we start training." Ranma continued.  
"What about me?" Nabiki asked.  
"Well, I, uh, didn't want to speak for you cause I know you don't really know martial arts stuff." Ranma scratched the back of his head looking at her somewhat embarrassed.  
She looked at him in the eye and said, "I going train like the rest of them, is that alright."  
"Well, uh, sure, ok." Ranma stammered.  
"Are you sure about this, Nabiki?" Akane looked at her in surprise.  
"I can't sit back and watch the rest of you risk your lives, I want to help." Nabiki replied. There was more to it than that, but she was afraid to voice her concerns. If anything happened to them she would be alone without her sister, friends, and the man she loves.  
"Too shall train with you." Hikaru spoke up.  
"Good idea, he's had prior experience fighting Kun Lao." Tenchi commented.  
"I suggest we finish this nice feast Sasami and Kasumi have made for us and turn in early." Genma suggested.  
For once everyone took the panda's suggest to heart. The rest of the meal went peacefully with light conversation to get their minds off the crisis at hand. The twins, looking like they were about fall over, shambled into the dojo where their futons waited for them. The rest of them went up to their rooms. Tenchi said farewell to his lovely ladies before they left through the closet door. He kneeled down and kissed Sasami on the cheek, and shared passionate kisses with Ryoko, Aeka, and Washu in her adult form. They all smiled sadly as they left, wishing that there was room at the Tendo place for them to stay. As he was about to head for his own room Tenchi noticed Mihoshi hadn't left. He walked up to her and she hugged him.  
"I'm scared." She said.  
"It's going to be alright." He told her.  
"Not for me, for you Tenchi, this guy sounds really bad." The blonde policewoman buried her face in his shoulder.  
"Do you want to stay with me tonight?" Tenchi asked her.  
Mihoshi looked up at him and blushed furiously, "Like, stay with you, in the same room."  
"Yeah, my bed big enough." He said, blushing slightly himself.  
"T-t-t-the same b-b-b-bed." Mihoshi looked at him with a wide eyed expression. Tenchi just smiled at her, reached behind her neck and pulled the blonde into a soft, passionate kiss. A tingle of warmth ran through the GP officer's entire body, she felt her breasts tighten and her nipples go rigid.  
The blonde beauty was stunned and barely registered that she was being lead by the hand up the stairs to Tenchi's room. When the door was closed behind them, Mihoshi came out of her mental fog and returned Tenchi's kiss with earnest. The two fell back on the bed in each other's arms. God, she's so beautiful., Tenchi said to himself as he helped the girl slowly slide off her GP uniform. Naked and wrapped in each other's arms Tenchi and Mihoshi let nature take it's course. Of course, he knew they were going to pay for it come morning, but that was the furthest thing from their minds as they were intoxicated by the musk of their lovemaking.  
  
A dark cloaked figure wandered among the crowded grave markers of Tokyo Cemetery. As far as the eye could see were thousands of closely spaced grave markers and mausoleums. The sleeping dead within this place called out to the creature beneath the cloak. He could feel them beckoning to him, like a siren song. It was very easy getting into the place. The groundskeeper had been trouble, but now even he would not get in the way. The Lich raised his gloved hands and formed a ball of green energy which he released into the air. The glowing ball fell into the Earth and a feint green aura spread across the ground.  
"Awaken, my children." The Lich called in its high pitched, hollow voice.  
The call was answered. The ground beneath the Lich's feet began to tremble slightly, then the first of his 'children' broke the surface. Hundreds of graves began to collapse as the occupants within began to tear their way to the surface. A gray hand reached out of the ground and grabbed at the Earth as it pulled the rest of itself out of the ground. Hundreds of shambling figures appeared out of the darkness, their eyes glowing a feint red, on those who still had eyes. The Lich surveyed his 'army' and was pleased. The stench of rotting flesh fermented over decades of entombment in the cold earth reached him and it was like the aroma of roses to his senses. The creatures before him, which had once been the loved ones of many families in the city of Tokyo, would obey no one but the voice of their lord and master. He turned towards the other location that was calling to him. Slowly the Lich and his 'children' began a shambling march towards Nerima.  
  
Ranma stirred in his bed, the sound of blaring sirens outside his window was disturbing him. It was unusual to hear sirens like that in Nerima or anywhere else in Japan for that matter. Yes, the city had its fair share of house fires form time to time and accidents with power lines or traffic accidents. Despite popular belief Japan was not a crime free utopia either, they had plenty of crime, but unlike nations like the United States it was not out of control. There were also ancient codes of honor that even the criminals seemed to follow to a degree; the infamous Yakuza was chief among them. It sounded like there was a five or eight alarm fire going on somewhere in the city. When the heavy beating sound of three choppers roared over the house that was when Ranma sat up. It was still dark outside, he noticed looking out of his window.  
The Saotome youth started climbing out of bed when he felt a warm lump next to him. Ranma smiled. One of his girls climbed into bed with him. It was still too dark to tell who it was. He laid back down and cuddled up close to her. It felt good to be able to opening show his feeling to the girls now. His hands roved over the figure under the covers. She had a wonderful figure, so it had to either Shampoo or Nabiki, or so he thought. He sought her face to kiss her. His hand reach the back of her neck and ran up to her hair. He felt a long braided pigtail? Ranma froze, none of his girls had a pig tail. Slowly he turned over and reached for the bedside lamp. Bright light flooded the room, it took a few moments for Ranma's eyes to adjust then he looked at whoever it was sharing his bed.  
  
"AAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!"  
  
Akane and Shampoo suddenly sat up in their beds and looked at each other. They had trouble sleeping for all the sound outside from the helicopters and sirens, which were responding to a large fire in the warehouse district or something. Now, there was the unmistakable sound of Ranma screaming at the top of his lungs.  
  
"YYYYYAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!"  
  
The eyes of the two girls went wide. That scream wasn't male, it was female, and they very easily recognized it. That alone shocked the two girls into action. They ran out of the room towards the onsen entrance and into the secret entrance to Ranma's room which only they could access. The scene that greeted them was even more shocking. Ranma was on his feet in his boxers and little else. His face was in absolute shock, his mouth agape. The girls looked where he was staring and gasped in shock. A young woman was sitting on the bed wrapped up in a sheet to cover herself. She had red hair with a pig tail and extremely voluptuous figure. There was absolutely no mistaking this person what so ever. She was Ranma's female form, but Ranma was in his male form!  
"Oh my Kami-sama!" Akane gasped.  
"Aiya!!!" Shampoo's eyes rolled up into the back of her head and she passed out.  
  
"What the hell is going on?" Ukyo demanded.  
Just about everyone was downstairs now in the sitting room. Kasumi brought in a tea service she had just made in the kitchen and handed a cup to their unexpected guest. The young red head took the cup. "Thanks Kasumi." She smiled and took a sip. Akane, Shampoo, Ukyo and Nabiki watched this girl who looked exactly like Ranma's female form. Tenchi was totally unable to fathom how this could have happened. He remembered one of Ranma's many stories he was told last year during their first meeting. Ranma told him about the mirror doppelganger who ran around like a boy happy nymphet. This girl clearly wasn't like that, she wasn't trying to seduce him, and she wasn't dressing in anything overtly sexy. There was one obvious difference with this girl that was very different with Ranma, she seemed very comfortable about being a girl and even acted like one through and through.  
"Shampoo bet Kun Lao do this!" the Amazon fumed.  
"But to what end?" Hikaru Kuno tried to reason.  
"What are you guys talking about, and who is that guy who looks like me?" the female Ranma pointed to the male Ranma who winced when she did.  
"I'm Ranma Saotome." Ranma replied.  
"Yeah, tell me another one, you're another doppelganger thingamabob or something like that." Female Ranma accused.  
"Excuse me, but you're the doppelganger here." Akane pointed at the girl.  
"Akane, what's wrong with you?" female Ranma gaped at her. "It's me Ranma."  
"You're not Ranma, at least not the real Ranma." Akane wrapped her arms around male Ranma's left arm.  
"If they're both Ranma, then how did she get here?" Nabiki inquired.  
Everyone look at the male Ranma then towards the closet door. Tenchi sighed and murmured, "Washu."  
"I can't be, Ranma's cured!" Akane protested.  
"I warned her." Cologne sighed and shook her head. "I told her the magic of Josenkyo could not be circumvented by science, no matter how advanced it is."  
The old woman came out of the shadows balancing on her staff.  
"You mean?" Ukyo began pointing towards both Ranma's.  
"The process of curing Ranma must have somehow set into motion a separation of his male and female halves." The Amazon Matriarch surmised.  
Female Ranma jumped to her feet and shouted, "What! I'm not some creation, I'm Saotome Ranma!"  
"Yes, and so his he." Cologne gestured towards the male Ranma.  
"That can't be!" the female Ranma cried.  
"Its is, and he's my iinazuke." Akane told her.  
The female Ranma's eyes went wide. "Akane Tendo, self-proclaimed hater of all men has an iinazuke!?"  
"You mean you're not engaged to Akane?" asked Tenchi.  
"Huh?" female Ranma gasped. "EWWW! I'm not a lesbo!"  
"Interesting, it would seem this Ranma is not only a girl in body, but also in mind as well." Cologne realized.  
Tenchi climbed to his feet and went towards the closet. "I'll go wake Washu." He said over his shoulder.  
"Uh, I got a question." Mihoshi spoke up.  
"Yes young lady?" Cologne replied.  
"Uh, how did she get here again?" the blonde GP officer inquired. Everyone immediately face faltered.  
  
Lt. Katari Myamara ran through the streets of Nerima, occasionally she looked over her shoulder hoping and praying to the Kami that nothing was behind her. Much has changed for the detective since the Fureinken rape case, which was suddenly and mysteriously closed and sealed by someone higher up in the government. Soon after she was reassigned to a different division, homicide, and given a promotion under the express condition that she never speak of the Hinako case ever again to anyone. She found this most unusual and wondered if it had anything to do with those two American FBI agents that came to her office that same day. She tried to remember their names, Moldy and Skula, no that didn't sound right.  
Those thought were the furthest things from her mind now as she ran down the abandoned streets of the city in a near panic. She along with nearly the entire precinct in her area was directed a specific location. What happened would haunt her nightmares for the rest of her life. It was like a scene out of one of those Resident Evil videogames, but in real life! After her fellow officers went down under the marching wall of living dead making its slow advance she ran for her life. She threw down her revolver which she had already spent firing into the oncoming horde of zombies to no avail. She only prayed that some of her fellow officers were able to get out alive. She could still hear gunshots in the distance, sirens blaring, and screams in the distance. She rounded a corner and came up short. She recognized the address she was running past, it was no less then the Tendo household where Akane Tendo and Ranma Saotome lived. After seeing the army of zombies she was starting to give the wild stories surround Ranma Saotome some credit. If the living dead was real then a boy who can jump thirty feet and threw blasts of energy can't possibly be an urban legend! It was still dark outside, the sun hadn't come up yet, thus adding to Katari's fright.  
Ranma and the others sat inside trying to understand the puzzle that was his female form in physical attendance. Washu ran a scanner over the girl and checked her readings.  
"She's perfectly fine." She said. "I also have to admit something though, I found that the test animals I used the cure on also split like this also."  
"NANI!?" Every gasped.  
The pink haired genius laughed and scratched the back of her head. "Yep, I got a bunch of naked girls running around my lab who think their rabbits."  
"Washu, how did this happen?" Tenchi demanded.  
"Relax, I think the attempt to negate the bio-etheric energy of the curse may have caused a chromo-paradyne shift." She reassured him. The only reply she got was several sets of eyes blinking in incomprehension.  
"Its complicated ok, I can't explain it any simpler than that without giving you all a fourteen hour lecture on the subject, just take my word for it." She said exasperated.  
"I wish you could have found this out 'before' you tried to curse me." Ranma growled.  
"What, you mean you don't want me around?" female Ranma accused him.  
Ranma replied stammering, "Uh, well, you see, uh."  
"Look, what's done is done, beside what would it hurt having her around?" Tenchi tried to defuse the situation before him. Ranma's iinazuke gave him vicious glances. Of course, Tenchi's girls all know what they could be thinking. Did this new girl have designs on Ranma, since she did come from him after all.  
Ranma." Said Akane.  
"Yeah Akane." Both Ranma's said at the same time.  
"That's gonna get confusing, why don't we call her Ranko." Ukyo suggested. "That's the name Ranma uses sometimes when disguised in his girl form."  
"Ranko, I like that." The newly named Ranko smiled.  
Washu looked at Cologne who had been eyeing her the whole time she was checking Ranko's status. "You can tell me you told me so, ok!"  
"Alright, I told you so." Cologne beamed.  
"Who is that at this hour?" Kasumi wondered hearing loud banging on the front door. She went to the front of the house and a figure literally fell into the doorway as she opened the door.  
"CLOSE THE DOOR, PLEASE, NO KAMI-SAMA!" the figure cried.  
"Oh my!" Kasumi gasped.  
"Its, its Lt. Myamara who interviewed us after Miss. Hinako was attacked." Akane remembered. The policewoman looked up, saw Ranma, and ran to him sobbing.  
"HUH?" he gasped as he caught the woman before she feel down.  
"What's wrong with her?" Ukyo asked with concern.  
"Their all dead, all of them!" Katari cried.  
Everyone froze with shock. With everything happening with Kun Lao there was no telling what was going on. They could still hear the sirens and what sounded like thunder. "What do you mean all dead?!" Ranma asked in surprise.  
"She's in shock, post traumatic stress disorder from the way she's acting." Washu guessed.  
"But what freaked her out?" Nabiki asked.  
That was when everyone noticed Mihoshi pointing towards the front gates to the house visible through the windows in the living room. "That maybe?"  
"Huh?" They all looked and their blood ran cold. A single figure in shadows shambled in through the front gates to the property. The way the figure, man or woman, was walking didn't seem natural.  
"Aiya!" Shampoo cried.  
"What the hell is that?!" Ranma gasped.  
Tenchi pointed. "There's more!" Several dozen more such shambling forms started coming out of the gloom of the night.  
"THEY'RE COMING, THEY'RE COMING, OH KAMI!" the policewoman screamed.  
Ranma threw open the front door and run into the night yelling, "Come on Tenchi!" Tenchi's face took on that seriousness it usually did before a battle, opened the tiny subspace pocket Washu created for him to keep the Tenchi-ken hidden, and followed his cousin. Ranma reached the first shambling form first and unleashed with the Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken or "Chestnut Fist". To his sudden surprise and horror the form literally disintegrated, and the smell was nearly unbearable. Tenchi came up behind igniting the blade of the Master Key and cleaved the next form into three sections with on fluid move.  
"What are these things?" Ranma looked with disgust at his fists which were covered with some black ooze that stank worse than anything he's ever smelt before.  
"I don't know but we're outnumbered!" Tenchi cried as he felled another creature and pointed down the street. Hundreds of the things could be seen shambling down the street towards the Tendo home, their red eyes illuminating in the darkness of the night.  
"Uh, what do we do?" Ranma asked him.  
"Running would be a good idea." Replied Tenchi.  
Both cousins ran back to the house, the were immediately repelled by the stink on Ranma's hands. Cologne recognized the smell and forced herself not to gag.  
"Ranma, wash that off with hot water and quickly!" the Amazon matriarch told him. Ranma ran to the kitchen while Akane turned on the hot water while holding he nose with her other hand. He used dish soap to wash the gunk off, but when he was done he could still smell the stench but it wasn't as bad as before.  
"What was it?" Ranma asked the diminutive old woman.  
"Rotted flesh turned to a near liquid." She replied making Ranma and nearly everyone else around her turn green.  
"Nani?" Ranma gaped.  
"This must be the work of one of Kun Lao's servants." Hikaru Kuno surmised. He came into the room wearing a new samurai robe with his sword scabbard slung across his back.  
"Yes, the Lich." Cologne named their enemy.  
"The Lich?" Ranma questioned her.  
"One of Kun Lao's most powerful servants, a hideous creature neither alive or dead and who can control the very dead themselves." Cologne explained.  
"Wait, you mean those things are, uh, zombies?" Ranko gasped.  
"In a manner of speaking, yes." Cologne looked at her seriously.  
"The living dead, isn't that a contradiction of terms." Washu folded her arms.  
"Uh, Washu, sweetie, those things look awfully real to me out there." Tenchi said to her.  
A hand broke through the front window making Nabiki scream and jump back. Shampoo jumped in front of her and batted the zombie away with a bonbori mace. "Aiya! They surround house, what we do?" Trough the shoji doors and other windows they could all see the forms moving through the yard. Akane took a fighting stance.  
"This is my family home and I'm not letting a bunch of walking dead people trash it!" she raged.  
Ukyo pulled out her Baker's Peel and joined her. "I'm with Akane, I say we make a stand."  
Ranma and Ranko feel in with them. "I never run away from a fight!" they both said together.  
"Washu, go get Aeka and Ryoko we need them!" Tenchi shouted over his shoulder as he beheaded a zombie trying to come through the shoji doors.  
"What about you?" she shouted from the closet door.  
"Just go, and protect Sasami!" he waved her on.  
The sound of a sword being drawn filled the air and a loud battle cry resounded through the house as Hikaru Kuno went into action with his katana. The battle, if it could be called that, raged on for several minutes as the faster and better coordinated fighters quickly decimated the force of attacking zombies until they reached the front gates.  
"Aiya, that easy fight, yes?" Shampoo smiled.  
"I was too easy." Ranma said nervously.  
"I agree son-in-law." Cologne nodded.  
Ukyo held her nose. "Uh, this place is gonna reek for months!"  
The Hentai Twins and Rouge came running up after cleaning out the zombies that wandered into the dojo. "All clear!" the twins chorused.  
"In here yeah, but not out there!" Ukyo shouted back at them. She moved along with Ranma, Tenchi, Shampoo and Akane to push the steel gate to the Tendo property closed. Akane set the lock, despite the fact that the lock is hardly ever used in a city with such a low crime rate. The remaining zombies outside pressed against the gates and it was immediately apparent that the lock wouldn't hold for long. The gate was mainly for show and not designed for any real defense.  
"That's not gonna hold long." Said Ranma.  
"TENCHI!" came a shout from the house as Aeka and Ryoko ran out to their iinazuke. They immediately noted the bodies and the stink made Aeka suddenly turn a sickly green.  
"Aeka, you ok?" Ryoko asked her.  
Aeka held her nose closed and said, "I'll be alright."  
"If I have to smell these things one minute more I think I'm gonna puke." Ranko clenched her nose. Suddenly the zombies beating on the gates stepped away and shambled off into the shadows leaving everyone inside stunned that it was over that quickly. A cold shiver ran up Ranma's spine, he could somehow sense that something was very wrong.  
"Uh, something tells me I'm not gonna like what just happened." Ranma voiced his concern out loud.  
"When I stormed Kun Lao citadel at Josenkyo I faced the undead such as these, but the walking dead are but only one of the servants of the Lich." Hikaru explained to them. He did not want to alarm his new friends and family by recounting what horrors he faced fighting his way to Kun Lao to save Sakumi. They would find out on their own.  
"What's that sound?" Akane asked hearing high pitched screech sounds in the distance. The noise set her teeth on edge, like someone raking their fingernails across a chalkboard. Soon they all began to hear the sound and low rumbling, deep throated roars.  
"Ghouls!" Hikaru hissed and fell into a defensive stance with his blade held ready. Everyone fell into a fighting stance right along with him hearing the sounds closing in on them.  
"Ghouls?" Aeka blinked.  
"Vile creatures with a mouth of long, sharp fangs and wicked claws on their hands." Cologne told her. "They are carrion eaters, they feed upon the flesh of the dead."  
"EEEEEWWWWW!!!!" was the response from Ranma's iinazuke, except for Nabiki who stayed in the house with Kasumi to keep Lt. Katari calm.  
The first of the creatures emerged from the darkness. Despite showing some resolve at being tough the girls, including Ryoko, could not suppress a scream of horror of revulsion. The things had skin that was a sickly dark gray, their mouths were wide maws lined with spike-like fangs that looked to be almost two inches long, and their long arms ended with long claws that extended beyond their fingers like those old American horror movies about a burnt up ghost who killed teenagers with a razorblade glove. The creatures were grabbing the fallen dead off the ground and cramming them into their huge mouths as they ran. The sight of this was almost too much for Ukyo and Aeka. They dash off holding their mouths hoping to reach the bathroom before their stomachs erupted.  
"The gates won't hold them back." Tenchi realized.  
"Let'em come!" Ryoko growled forming an energy ball in her hand.  
"At last a real fight!" Pepper cheered.  
"Beware, ghouls regenerate unless destroyed by fire!" Hikaru warned them.  
The creatures came snarling and crashed into the gate. For a brief moment it held, then the bricks around the hinges gave way and it fell in. Just at the gates dropped Ryoko loosed her bolt of energy. An explosion lit up the night sky sending mangled ghouls flying in all directions. The battle became a free for all as the monsters surged into the yard behind the ones that were just obliterated. Ukyo returned to the battle with her Baker's Peel, she deflected the wicked claws of the creatures and lashed out at them with the sharpened end of her trademark weapon. Shampoo was a whirlwind of fury sporting her bonbori maces, with every swing she batted away a ghoul or crushed it under the tremendous force of her thrusts. Akane stuck close to Ranma, her fighting skills still weren't anywhere near his yet she managed to stay clear of those claws that could have easily cut her in two with a casual swipe. Ranma was a one man wrecking crew demolishing dozens of the monsters at every turn, his speed allowed him to flow around their claw attacks while he delivered Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken blows. Ranko faired about as good and gave as good as she got from the monsters. Her Moko Takabisha blasts filled the night sky with bright light, each blast vaporizing some of the monsters. Salt and Pepper did what they usually do in a fight, work as a team, and nothing got passed their whirling scimitar blades. From time to time one of the twins would guard the other as she formed a spell, usually fireball, to bring the monsters down. For Hikaru Kuno it was déjà vu, he'd been in such a battle before with these monsters, but this time around he had allies to back him up while before he faced these creatures alone. He demonstrated to anyone who was able to take the time from the fight to watch that he had considerable sword fighting skills, his katana cut a swath through the vile creatures. Cologne of the Nyanchiczu, despite her age, was one of the most formidable fighters among her people and her performance in the battled showed this to be true. She bounded through the oncoming monster using her walking stick to bat them away or crush in their skulls with machine like precision. Ryoko and Aeka fought back to back. The princess' mini-guardians surrounded groups of the monsters and lashed out with bursts of energy. Ryoko had her energy sword in hand and protect herself and Aeka with her energy shield. It became apparent however to everyone that the onslaught wasn't slowing, for every dozen that fell two dozen too their place. The fighters were pushed back toward the Tendo house as more of the claw monsters rushed them gnashing their gaping maws in anticipation of devouring warm flesh.  
"There's too many of them!" Ukyo cried desperately fighting off the creatures from all sides.  
"MOKO TAKABISHA!!!!" Ranma cried. A mass of the monsters that surrounded Ukyo suddenly vaporized under his massive chi blast. It gave her the time she needed to regroup with the others as they retreated quickly to the house.  
"Get to the house I'll cover you guy!" Ranko shouted. She ran into the midst of the snarling monsters, dropped one knee and thrust a single finger at the ground, "BAKUSAI TENKETSU!!!" The ground erupted in a massive explosion that sent hundreds of the monsters flying through the air. Ranko came running out of the murky dust cloud the technique created. Ranma held open the front door for her and slammed it shut behind her.  
"Close all the doors and windows!" he shouted into the rest of the house.  
"That will not stop them!" Cologne protested.  
"You got any better ideas?" he asked her.  
Snarling ghouls began climbing through the windows and smashing through the thin shoji doors. They advanced on the others slowly. Ranma shot a glance at his father and Mr. Tendo who were both in total shock. Those two will be useless in this fight., he reasoned. Nabiki, Kasumi, Mihoshi, Lt. Katari, and Rouge yelped as ghouls broke into their part of the house.  
"Yes, I do." Cologne replied. "RUN FOR IT!"  
Nobody wanted to debate that idea as they turned and run. Akane grabbed Nabiki's hand as Ranma grabbed up Lt. Katari into his arms. A steel three section staff suddenly appeared in Rouge's hands as she protected their flank. Tenchi ran to Mihoshi and grabbed her arm. The two older men snapped out of their bewildered shock and ran for it too.  
"My lab, we can take cover in my lab!" Washu cried.  
She ran towards the closet door when suddenly an invisible barrier sprang up into place in front of it. She slammed into it hard and fell back.  
"A magical wall of repulsion!" Salt realized.  
"This is the Lich's doing!" Hikaru snarled.  
"Why am I reminded of the Alamo all of a sudden?" Ukyo whirled and smashed a ghoul with her Baker's Peel.  
"HAPPOH FIRE BURST!!!!" came a cry from outside followed by a loud explosion.  
"Great, the Master has returned from his nightly rounds!" Soun was never happier at that moment to see Happosai returning home to the Tendo dojo.  
"Ghouls, haven't seen things like these in ages!" The diminutive pervert darted around the monsters with lightning speed. The renowned "Most Evil Martial Arts Master" bash, battered, and clobbered every creature that dared to raise its claw in his direction. The creatures pressed the attack, they came burst through the walls and their claws made kindling out of furniture.  
"THAT'S IT THIS END NOW!" Tenchi cried before throwing himself into the mass of snarling undead. A bright white light erupted causing everyone to shield their eyes and the ghouls screeched in annoyance. A massive force pushed the monster away from Tenchi as the Light Hawk Wings unfolded before him. Aeka and Ryoko watched as Tenchi merged with the wings like he did on the Soja and when fighting Lady Tokimi. Shielded by Light Hawk armor and holding the magnificent Light Hawk Sword Tenchi looked like a very formidable sight. The ghouls sensed his power and took no chances.  
"Lord Tenchi is one of the Kami?" Hikaru gasped.  
"No, but he might as well be." Washu told him.  
"YYYAAAHHHH!!!" Tenchi roared as he lashed out with the Light Hawk Sword. The blade vaporized the undead monsters the moment it touched them. His powerful, well measured strokes and thrusts pushed the creatures back from his family and friends.  
"AMAZING, THE POWER THAT BOY IS PUTTING OUT IS INCREDIBLE!" Salt and Pepper gasped in astonishment.  
"Let's help him!" Ranma cried and threw himself into the fight.  
The tide of the battle suddenly shifted against the undead. Dozens of the ghouls fell to Tenchi's Light Hawk Sword, meanwhile the rest of the family who could fight and even some who couldn't threw themselves into the battle to protect their home. In no less than twenty minutes the battle was back outside and nearing the ruined gates to the Tendo property.  
"Impressive, I can see why the master sent me to deal with them." The Lich said out loud as he watched the battle from the roof of one of the nearby houses. The cloaked creature raised its hand forming a ball of energy and clenched it in a gloved fist. The energy flared around its fingers and suddenly took the shape of a wicked scythe with a long, curved blade. The Lich leapt into the air, its cloak flapped it in the wind as it soar over the battle and descended into the Tendo yard.  
"What the hell is that!?" Ranko shouted as she saw the figure coming.  
The Lich alighted in the Tendo yard and immediately attacked. Hikaru Kuno's katana blade came to meet the creature's scythe. Steel sang against steel as the two battled one another.  
"I defeated you one, I shall do so again!" Hikaru snarled through clenched teeth.  
"I remember you." The Lich hissed. "You will find I have become much stronger since we last met."  
"NIGHTSHADE!!!" the Lich cried as it swung its blade. A dark aura surrounded the blade of the scythe and it lashed out with dark tendrils. The black energy struck Hikaru like a hundred whip lashes knocking him off his feet and raising painful whelps on his skin.  
The creature would have advanced to finish his prey but found himself having to deflect blows from a pair of bonbori maces.  
"A pity I must kill you, the master would have liked playing with one as lovely as yourself." The thing hissed. Shampoo snarled and pressed the attack. The Lich leapt into the air avoiding a powerful swing from the Amazon that would have easily killed a lesser opponent. He alighted on the ground behind her and swung his blade.  
"CHILL OF THE DEAD!!!" he shouted as he attacked. A wave of intense cold struck Shampoo sapping the strength from her muscles. Suddenly her maces seemed too heavy for her lift and she fell to one knee.  
"BREATH OF THE DRAGON!!!" Hikaru cried as he swung his blade. A tongue of flame lashed out from the sword and engulfs the cloaked monster. The Lich cried out in rage and agony as the flames quickly spread over his cloak. The flaming monster hurled himself into the air and away from the battle.  
"Are you well noble Amazon?" the samurai asked as he helped Shampoo stand.  
"Hai. Shampoo feel better now, where creepy monster go Shampoo no done bashing in head." She looked around to see where the Lich had gone.  
Bits and pieces of the Lich's cloak still burned as he stepped towards the warriors. With the cloak gone they could see what was underneath. The Lich was a walking skeleton adorned in the ornate armor of a Chinese warrior. A eerie green light shown through the gaps in the armor emanating from within the creature's ribcage. An unholy red glow emanated from the Lich's eye sockets.  
"That's the Lich!?" Ranma gasped seeing the thing.  
"It is his true form." Cologne nodded. "Destroy him and the ghoul army will return to the underworld from whence they came."  
"COOL!" Ranma threw himself at the skeletal warrior intending to shatter him. The Lich saw the attack and swung his blade to counter. Ranma was faster and flowed around the strike. He allowed himself to fall to the side, landed on the ground with one hand, then heaved his body into the air delivering a sideways mule kick with both feet at the thing. The Lich didn't fly apart like Ranma though he would. That bastard's touch than he looks!, Ranma realized in surprise.  
"NIGHTSHADE!!!" the Lich unleashed the attack on Ranma, but to the monster's surprise his target was suddenly gone. Ranma materialized behind the Lich and struck his back with one finger.  
"BAKUSAI TENKETSU!!" His finger hit but nothing happened.  
"HUH?!" Ranma gaped looking at his finger.  
"Fool, I am a magical creature that techniques only works on non-living mundane objects!" the Lich snarled and attacked.  
"Ok, how about this!" Ranma raised his hands forming a ball of energy. "MOKO TAKABISHA!!!" The blast hits the Lich's chest plate armor. The heat of the energy causes the metal to warp and buckle, and force of it delivered at such close range throws the monster off its feet.  
"Finish him now son-in-law!" Cologne cried as the Lich slowly tried to stand.  
"I think not!" the Lich roared raising his weapon. "SOUL DRINKER!!!"  
Ranma suddenly felt his strength and his battle aura dwindle down to almost nothing. He fought to stand but even that was too much for him to do and he fell like a rag doll.  
"AIREN!" Shampoo cried and threw herself between him and the Lich. Hikaru joined her and together they force the creature away from Ranma to give him time to recover. Slowly Ranma felt his strength return to him and felt a pair of strong arms lifting him up. He looked up into Akane's face which at the moment was a mask of immense worry.  
"Ranma, are you ok?" she asked with concern.  
Ranma steadied himself. "Yeah, he surprised me that's all."  
"Aiya!" Shampoo cried as she came flying towards the house and smacked into the wall.  
"Shampoo!" the two cried and ran to the fallen Amazon.  
"Ranma, Akane, that thing stronger than he look." The Amazon groaned as the two picked her up.  
"There's only one thing that'll stop this thing." Ranma said and he just what to do. He ran to where Hikaru was still fighting the monsters then yelled out at the thing.  
"Hey, bone bag, your mamma was a dog's chew toy!"  
"What Ranma doing?" Shampoo wondered as Ranma started dodging the Lich's attacks and ran round the creature.  
"AIYA!" she realized what he was up to, sprang to her feet and ran to Hikaru Kuno.  
"Samurai best get out of Ranma way!" She told him once she got to the young warrior. "Monster about to meet painful end."  
"Nani?" Hikaru looked at her.  
"Listen to her, take cover fast!" Akane warned him. Reluctant to fight his samurai code to never run from a fight, the warrior conceded and followed the two girls. They watched as Ranma goaded the monster into more frantic attacks as he ran around and around the creature in a spiral pattern.  
"What's he doing?" Aeka gasped.  
"Winning the battle." Cologne said with a smile.  
About this time Tenchi and the rest arrived to watch Ranma's antics. The young Masaki had already dispelled the power of the Light Hawk Wings after chasing off the remaining ghouls. The creatures were still out there, that was evident from the number of sirens and gunshots they could hear all around in the city. Lt. Katari, Nabiki, and Mihoshi came out and watched Ranma's battle. Ranko just folded her arms and enjoyed the show.  
The young Saotome felt the rising heat of the battle around him and knew the time was getting near. Just a little more., he told himself. The Lich lashed out again and again in frustration at not being able to hit his target. He tried his magical techniques to no avail. Then, Ranma felt that the energy around him was just right.  
"HIRYU SHOTEN HA!!!"  
A whirlwind of chi energy erupted from where Ranma initiated the technique and the Lich was hurled into the air. Everyone who had never seen Ranma use this technique before gasped in awe and wonder. Lt. Katari watched with morbid fascination and realized all the stories she heard about the boy were true. Washu had her computer out analyzing the attack with immense fascination. High in the air the immense forces of the whirlwind tore the Lich apart. First to go were his arms and legs, then the armor on his chest, and finally his ribs began to fly apart. The mass of green energy housed within his ribcage was pulled and shredded by the forces of Hiryu Shoten Ha. When the winds finally died there was no trace of the creature left but one thing. As the winds calmed the monster's skull landed in the yard, the eerie lights that had been inside its lifeless eyes slowly faded to nothingness.  
"RANMA!" the young Saotome was suddenly tackled to the ground by four amorous woman who smothered his face with affectionate kisses.  
Tenchi and Ryoko heard a sound behind them and they whirled around in time to see a group of ghouls advancing on them. Before they could attack the monsters suddenly grasped themselves and began to cry out in agony. Slowly the creatures liquefied and began to slowly seep in the ground as their cries echoed as if they came from a deep pit.  
"With the power of their master no more they are return to hell where they belong." Said Cologne.  
  
"Mr. Saotome, have you ever considered a career in law enforcement?" Lt. Katari asked Ranma. The battle was well over and everyone was taking the time to relax and recover their strength. With the Lich destroyed the chaos in the city outside suddenly died down. The TV was on and news reports were frantically giving accounts of what happened that night. Everyone was in the sitting room just resting or sipping tea prepared by Kasumi and Sasami.  
Ranma scratched the back of his head. "Never crossed my mind." He smiled awkwardly, his entire body ached from the battle hours ago.  
"A man with your incredible skills would be a true asset to the force." She replied.  
"The police of this land are governed by strict rules, I fear confining young Ranma to such rules would be a waste of his talents." Cologne told her.  
"How so?" Lt. Katari asked her.  
"You are more suited to dealing with criminals and breakers of the law who are more or less mundane and possess little not any special talents." Cologne explained.  
"You mean they can't bench press bulldozers." The police woman said.  
"In a manner of speaking." Cologne went on. "Ranma's talents lean in different direction, he is suited for dealing with foes that would prove fatal for the police to encounter."  
"Like those zombies." Lt. Katari sighed.  
"They are the least of our problems." Spoke up Akane.  
"That creature was summoned by a foe the authorities had best leave to those who know what they are doing." Hikaru Kuno added.  
"You mean this Kun Lao character Kasumi was telling me about earlier." Lt. Katari remembered.  
"The very same, a enemy who's power is well beyond the power of the police or an army for that matter." Cologne told her.  
"I heard stories from the students of Fureinken High when I was investigating the rape of that teacher." Lt. Katari sat up and looked at Ranma. "They told me some pretty wild stories about how Ranma Saotome can jump thirty feet in the air, throw blasts of energy from his hands, and what I have seen so far has proven them all true and then some. This whole experience has opened my eyes to a world that I've never realized existed and was right there under my nose all this time but I never could imagine it was there."  
Ukyo put a hand on the woman's shoulder reassuringly. "There, there, sugar, since coming to Nerima looking for Ranma honey I've seen lots of bizarre things, you get used to it." She said.  
"I also heard that he turns into a girl." The policewoman added.  
"Oh, I'm cured of that." Ranma smiled.  
"I don't know, Ranma honey, after what happened last night." Ukyo reminded him and pointed at Ranko.  
Without a warning Akane upended a glass of cold water over Ranma's head. To his dismay he felt the familiar tingling all over his body and looked down at the considerable bulge in the front of her Chinese shirt.  
"It's not fair." Sighed a now female Ranma.  
"But, if he still turns into a girl then that means-WAH!" Ranko began when she felt cold water pouring over her head. She looked down and noticed the absence of her ample breasts.  
"Uh, I guess we're both still cursed." A now male Ranko sighed.  
"Unbelievable." Gasped Lt. Katari.  
"I don't get it, neither of them should be cursed." Washu scratched her chin.  
Cologne sighed. "Well now, maybe you'll leave dealing with magic and curses to those who know what they are doing next time."  
"Err." Washu growled and the two women glowered at one another.  
"Miss. Myamara would you like a ride back to your office?" Soun offered.  
The policewoman blushed a bit and said, "No thank you, but thanks for the offer Mr. Tendo, with things the way they are right now it would be better to keep as much traffic off the streets as possible until things can be cleaned up."  
"Guess there's a lot of damage in the city." Nabiki said looking toward the TV which was showing the aftermath of last night's incident from the view of a helicopter.  
"Of course you all know why the Lich was here." Said Cologne  
"To pound us into the dirt." Ranma told her.  
"No, to distract us while he finds the next location of the keys." Cologne corrected him.  
"Oh, that." Ranma groaned.  
"Matriarch, does not legend say one of the keys is hidden near Joketsuzoku?" asked Rouge.  
"Legend says it was buried with the great Ambrosia in her grave, which sits beneath a shrine at the center of the village." Cologne remembered recalling the story.  
"Keys?" the policewoman looked confused.  
"Long story, sugar." Ukyo smiled.  
"Well, if one of the keys is there we should go and get it before that hentai get its." Suggested Akane.  
"Aiya! Shampoo agree, we get key before nasty sorcerer get it." Shampoo seconded.  
"I take it you people are leaving then?" Lt. Katari asked.  
"Yes, for China, we will journey into territory not even the communists dare venture into." Cologne told her.  
"Son-in-law, I see that look on your face." Cologne warned Ranma who suddenly had a happy expression in her eyes. "Do not go anywhere near Josenkyo until we can determine the nature of the change that has taken place due to Washu's tampering."  
"Tampering!" Washu fumed. She calmed when she felt Tenchi's hand on her shoulder.  
"Rats." Ranma and Ranko sighed.  
"How are we going to get there, repairs to the house are going to cost a bundle, and we don't have that much in the bank." Nabiki gestured around at the damage.  
"We?" Ranma looked at her. "Where we're going is pretty danger, you and Kasumi should stay here with pop and your dad."  
Nabiki look at 'her' with her hands on her hips. "Any more dangerous than it was a little while ago."  
"He speaks the truth young Nabiki, the lands around Josenkyo are not for the uninitiated." Hikaru added. "There are places in that region not even the Nyanchiczu dare enter."  
"Kun Lao is targeting me and Tenchi." Ranma pointed from 'herself' to 'her' cousin. "And he's more interested in finding the keys than coming back here."  
"I just don't want to be left out, I'm the your only iinazuke who can't fight." Nabiki sighed.  
"Huh, you have more than one iinazuke?" Lt. Katari looked surprised.  
Ranma-chan smiled and scratched the back of her head. "That's another long story."  
"You can tell it to me another time, I'd better be getting to my office." The policewoman said as she stood up. "Assuming its still standing."  
"Thank you all for everything, I want you to know you have a friend in the police department if you need anything." Lt. Katari told them before bowing and heading for the door.  
"Ok, we'd better decide who's going and who's not." Ranko suggested.  
"I'll stay, I'll just slowly guys down, beside I have to get a contractor in here to fix the damage." Nabiki sighed. "Hopefully the insurance covers attacks by zombies."  
"Its not just that Nabiki, I be really worried about you if you came along." Ranma-chan told her.  
"I know, I guess that's why I fell for you, huh." Nabiki smiled back at her.  
"I'm going." Said Ukyo.  
"Me too." Akane chimed in.  
"I want a piece of that asshole, I'm going." Ryoko joined in.  
"Count me a part of this venture also." Aeka added.  
"Me too I guess." Said Tenchi.  
"A hundred wild horses could no keep Shampoo away." Shampoo smiled.  
"Once again I journey to Josenkyo, I shall go with you." Hikaru Kuno nodded.  
"As an officer of the Galaxy Police it is my duty, count me in too." Mihoshi bubbled.  
"I must go and report what has happened to the other elders." Cologne told them.  
"We'll go, if Kun Lao is after the same key you'll need us along." Salt spoke up.  
"I follow my nieces." Said Rouge.  
"Tendo and I will stay here to watch after Nabiki and help fix up the house." Said Genma.  
"You mean lay around and play shoji all day with dad while I handle everything so you don't bungle it." Nabiki eyed him.  
"Uh." The elder Saotome stammered nervously.  
"I'll stay, we can use my robots from the lab to fix the house to save on expenses." Said Washu.  
"Thanks." Nabiki smiled at her.  
"That's it then, when do we leave?" asked Ranma-chan.  
"First thing tomorrow morning, I will arrange transportation for us through our usual channels." Said Cologne. "We Amazons do no travel by regular registered transport, we use methods where few questions are asked about our destination."  
"In other words you have contacts in the Yakuza." Ukyo guessed.  
"A few, we have some mutual understandings." Cologne nodded. "Same thing in Hong Kong, we have alliances there as well."  
"Figures, that's how Shampoo knew me and pop went to Japan ain't it?" Ranma-chan asked.  
"Uh huh." Shampoo nodded smiling. "Shampoo track down airen easy."  
"At least that has turned out for the best." Cologne smiled.  
"Yeah, my iinazuke problems are pretty much over except for Kodachi." Ranma-chan smiled at 'her' loves.  
"Alright, I'll go too." Ranko-kun spoke up.  
Ranma-chan shrugged. "Don't see why not."  
"Uh, Kasumi could we both have some hot water?" Ranma-chan asked.  
"I'll be right back." Kasumi smiled. Over her shoulders she said, "I'll stay home too, I know how to fight, or one of my past selves does, but I want to help with fixing up the house."  
Kasumi returned with a kettle. Ranma and Ranko both sighed with relief as they changed themselves back to normal.  
"At least we don't have high school anymore to worry about." Ukyo broke the silence.  
"As if we need that hanging over our heads, I hope we can get all this resolved before college starts." Akane nodded in assent.  
Ukyo slapped her knees and said, "Hey, lets all go to the shop and I'll personally make everybody some okonomiyaki."  
"Okonomiyaki?" the twins looked at one another questioningly.  
"Japanese pizza." Rouge explained.  
"Oh, I prefer Chicago style myself." Pepper smiled.  
"That's the American/Italian style, Okonomiyaki is very different." Ukyo told her.  
"Right now I think a good meal sound very good." Ranma climbed to his feet and smiled.  
Akane playfully nudged him in the ribs laughing, "You're always hungry."  
"I don't really feel like going back to the Nekohautan right now, I'll go too." Cologne sighed and smiled at the young people around her.  
And so the heroes and heroines of the Battle of Nerima left the ruins of their home and headed for Ucchan's for a victory breakfast. Meanwhile, hundreds of miles away a lone figure paced back and forth fuming. Kun Lao felt the energy of his servant the Lich suddenly wink out. The Lich was defeated, so quickly, how?, he wondered. He knew how, Ranma and his cousin. Against ordinary foes the Lich would have won a battle in no time, but then Ranma Saotome and Tenchi Masaki were not normal foes by any stretch of the imagination.  
He stopped pacing, his latest conquest lay naked and unconscious on the mattress in the corner of his room. He'd have to send her away soon, whipping her memory away and any evidence of their coupling. Kun Lao sat lotus style on the floor and drew a complex rune in the air in front of it. It shimmered with chi energy in mid air for moment then transformed into one of his spectral minions. The tiny ethereal creature flew out the window and raced the long distance to Nerima where it found the ruins of the Tendo home. Slowly it phased through the walls and came upon the people inside who were in discussion.  
So, one of the keys IS in Joketsuzoku as I guessed., Kun Lao realized. "Interesting." He thought out loud. It had been a long time since he ever walked the lands of Josenkyo or ventured into the lands of the Amazons. In his absence he was certain that the Musk Dynasty will have taken back the land he acquired for himself so long ago. That could not be allowed to continue, those fools would have to be taught their proper place. There were the Nyanchiczu and these arrogant Communists who had to be brought down a peg or two. Yes, they would most certainly have to be taught who is the true lord and master of China.  
His next task was to send his latest playmate away. He cleared her memory and removed the evidence of their lovemaking before giving her a mental instruction to return home. After she was dressed and out the door he returned to his room and made to prepare his next spell. Kun Lao closed his eyes and concentrated his thoughts. He allowed the chi of the universe to flow around him and concentrate into the spell he needed, visualizing the runes of the spell and manifesting them. The runes sparked into existence around him and he felt his mind stretching outward towards China.  
"Awaken my old friend." Kun Lao said knowing his voice was heard on the other side. "Gaal, awaken."  
He felt a response on the other side and the smiled. "Yes, it has been a long time." He went on. "My old dear friend, I have a job for you."  
__________  
To be continued...  
  
Next time...  
Part 5: The Battle of Joketsuzoku  
One of the sacred Keys that open the Chamber of Ascension has been located in the village of the Amazons. Tenchi, Ranma, and the gang race there to get it first, but they arrive to find a full scale battle taking place, and at the forefront is a vile creature they would soon love to forget....Gaal the Crusher. 


	5. Part 5:The Battle of Joketsuzoku Part 1

DISCLAIMER: "Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki" is a registered trademark and copyright of AIC Inc. and Pioneer. "Ranma 1/2" is a registered trademark and copyright of Rumiko Takahashi, Viz Communications and Kitty Productions.  
  
__________  
  
T E N C H I 1 / 2: FAMILY REUNION II  
  
By Michael "TheZorch" Haney  
  
__________  
  
Part 5: The Battle of Joketsuzoku - Act 1  
  
Saotome Ranma, heir to the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts and Second Crown Prince of Planet Jurai, stood looking out over the waters of the Sea of Japan from the deck of what Akane called "floating piece of crap". The ship, if it could be called that had certainly seen better days, it was in poor repair, covered with rust from stem to stern, and the hull plating made eerie noises below decks. The ship was called affectionately the "Old Man of the Sea", and it certainly was old. Once it appeared to have been used as a fishing vessel for the canneries that lined the coast of Japan, but now it was under new management. Its current job, smuggling people and contraband to and from Mainland China. It wasn't a Yakuza owned vessel though.  
  
Ranma wondered if it would have been easier to just fly in the Ryo-Ohki to China and use her stealth capabilities to get past China's complex air defense network. Washu said it could be done, but after a discussion everyone who was going to China elected to go by boat. All the none combatants were left behind, namely Soun, Genma, Nabiki, Kasumi, and Sasami. He was glad Akane's beautiful older sister and Tenchi's youngest iinazuke wasn't on board. The crew of this miserable boat was one of most unsavory bunch of cut throats he'd ever seen on his ten years of travel around the world with his pops. They kept giving the girls that did come on the trip hungry looks. None of them ever tried anything after one of them did. It had been their first day at sea and one of the crew approached Ryoko intending to have himself a private party with the beautiful young alien. He was now spending the rest of the trip in sickbay until they could return to Japan to give him proper medical treatment. After the incident, Cologne went to speak with the captain of the vessel and explained something about their passengers, he then went and spoke to the crew, and no further incidents happened. The crew knew of the Nyanchiczu, it wasn't the first time they ferried them across the Sea of Japan, and they knew to keep their distance. All the captain had to say we they were Amazons, and that was that. They had a desire for female companionship, not a death wish.  
  
The young Saotome heard a faint footstep next to him, turning his head to his right he saw Akane there. Reflexively he reached out and put his arm around her. Akane snuggle up against him and smiled as she felt his warmth warming her against the cool breeze coming off the ocean. By now the old Akane was dead and gone and the new Akane was alive and well. The old Akane would have punted Ranma into the air with a swift kick and a curse of "Pervert!" if he had done this, but the new Akane was different for she wanted Ranma to hold her and love her. Akane was glad to have her new self, glad to see the old Akane wither and die. As time passed since the trip to see Ranma's family in Ohkayama she came to detest the old Akane, the Akane that abused Ranma, called him names. She never wanted to be that Akane ever again.  
  
Little more than a week passed since the horrifying confrontation with the dreaded Lich. Securing transport to China turned out to be harder than expected. Increased security due to the situation between the Americans and the Middle East was making things difficult. Finally, one of Cologne's Yakuza contacts got them an unregistered vessel. They lost a few days, yes, but if they had a hard time finding transportation that would also mean Kun-Lao had the same problem. That was only assuming he didn't use other methods to reach China.  
  
"You alright?" Akane asked her iinazuke.  
  
"We haven't been back to Josenkyo since Saffron." he said.  
  
Akane hugged her husband to be tighter. She remembered the terrible day, the day she died and then came back to life because of the agonized and heart broken cry from Ranma. Why it had taken so long for them to finally admit to one another how they felt she didn't know. All she really cared about now was getting this unfortunate chapter of their lives out of the way so they can go on with the rest of their lives together at last.  
  
"I know, it'll be strange going back there." she said.  
  
"Will you try to get a cure for your curse there?" she went on to ask.  
  
Ranma replied truthfully, "I don't know, after what happened with Washu's cure machine I started to think that maybe there was a reason why I was given this curse."  
  
"For what?" Akane looked at him, astonished.  
  
"I can't really put my finger on it, but something tells me I have this curse for a reason, that it was meant to happen." he said looking as if he were pondering something as mysterious as the meaning of life..  
  
"Is it because of Ranko?" Akane had to ask. She had to admit she was very jealous of Ranma's new sister. During that week they were all in limbo waiting for a ship to China, there had been discussions about Ranko in the family. Genma formally announced that he would adopt her into the Saotome clan, effectively making her Ranma's sister. Akane however noticed a few things about Ranko, and one of them was the fact that the girl who sprang into existence out of Ranma was also attracted to him.  
  
"We cleared that up, all we are to one another is brother and sister." he told her. The incident that nearly broke out into a knock down drag out battle royale between Ranko and his other iinazuke came to his mind. The girl had been watching Ranma work out in the dojo and decided to join him. Ranma being a nice guy let her spar with him. The girls were watching also, and during the fight Ranko made the mistake of stealing a kiss from Ranma, completely blowing his concentration, and enabling her to win the fight by hitting him with an Amaguriken attack. Of course the girls wanted to tar, feather, and roast the red head alive for what she had done. This prompted the long conversation between the two of them that resulted in Ranko being just his sister and nothing more. For Ranma it wasn't easy turning the girl down, she was beautiful, intelligent, and was as good a martial artist a he was. But it didn't feel right forming a relationship with someone who spawned from you. Ranko wasn't very happy with having to agree to this but she did, reluctantly. If she couldn't love him as his iinazuke she would love him as his sister, it all he could offer her.  
  
"I know, I'm sorry for bringing it up." Akane apologized.  
  
"Its alright, I know how you feel about the whole thing." Ranma replied hugging Akane closer. "How was I supposed to know she was falling for me?"  
  
"Why does every girl who so much as looks at you falls in love with you?" Akane asked him coyly.  
  
"That whole Jurai energy thing I guess, yeah, that's it, Ranko doesn't have anyone so that's why she went after me." Ranma snapped his fingers.  
  
Akane's eyes went wide at this revelation. "I almost forgot about that, that's why Nabiki's your iinazuke now too."  
  
"Yeah, well I'd be lying if I said I didn't sorta have feeling for her before all that happened though." Ranma admitted.  
  
Akane didn't know whether to be mad to that comment or not, but said, "Well maybe your sister will find somebody in China."  
  
Somewhere in Mainland China a young man walking alone on a back road through the wilderness sneezed violently. He passed a sign in Chinese kanji that reads "Valley of Josenkyo 60 kilometers". Of course, he can't read a bit of Chinese. The young man stops, takes off his yellow and black stripped bandannas revealing another underneath it, and uses it as a handkerchief.  
  
"I wonder where I am now, this is all Ranma's fault!" he cried into the wilderness frightening the birds.  
  
Back on the ship, Shampoo and Cologne had all but totally taken over control of the ship's galley for the remainder of the voyage to China. The crew was very happy for the cooking prowess of the Nyanchiczu was as renowned as their fighting prowess. The current ship's cook was a huge, greasy looking man named Donk with an honest to goodness peg leg, and he didn't take very kindly to women taking over his galley. Unlike the rest of the crew he wasn't very smart, he was a gaijin, an American, and knew nothing about the Nyanchiczu, nor did he believe the captain's wild tales about these people. When he tried to toss Cologne out on her rear when she came to take over the kitchen he got a lesson in "Listen When Your Captain Tells You Something 101". After about an hour of getting thoroughly beaten and humiliated in front of the entire crew he decided to just act as cook's assistant until the old hag was off the ship.  
  
For the crew of the "Old Man of the Sea" it was really hard obeying captain's orders with a girl like Shampoo hopping around the galley. They watched with fascination every bounce and jiggle of her ample breasts as she delivered some of the best food they'd eaten in years. They loved the antics of her catching plates and bowls of food Cologne and Donk would throw to her. In this short time the old woman and the ship's cook became friends and Cologne actually shared some recipes with him.  
  
Ever since her now official engagement with Ranma, Kuonji Ukyo decided to no longer hide her female figure. Despite her past efforts to hide the fact that she was a girl, she had indeed developed into a very lovely woman with a body most young women would die for.. Dressed in her Okonomiyaki uniform she danced around the galley delivering meals to the crew as well. Sometimes they just came there for the "show". Nobody tried to cop a feel on either girl after one man decided to slap Ukyo on her cute bottom, and got a face full of her giant Baker's Peel. The Hentai Twins were a part of the group heading to China. The girls had a reputation for being rather "friendly" with men. The twins both took one look at what passed for men on this ship and became violently ill. On the opposite side of the coin was the Most Evil Martial Arts Master in the World. He had a good reason to be on this trip, he hated Kun-Lao who in some ways was almost a kindred spirit to the ancient pervert. But, Kun-Lao violated the only woman he had respect for, his Little Hinako, and so Happosai wanted nothing more than to spill that jerks blood for what he did to her. The ship was carrying a load of contraband that was legal in Japan but illegal in China. One of the items that was in big demand in China was Hentai movies, anime, manga, and magazines. The girls were very thankful for this because it meant that Happosai spent most of his time down in the ship's hold instead of bothering them.  
  
On the upper deck of the ship the sole female member of the crew, Kirokori Megumi, watched the man known to her only as Kuno Hikaru perform dazzling kata exercises with this katana. She wasn't one to fall for men easily and earned a great deal of respect from the crew as someone you don't try to take liberties with. She was a martial artist from the Kirokori School of Martial Arts Smuggling, a secret art developed by smugglers of old that was very similar to the Amazon Hidden Weapons style. The other young man, the one with black hair and a pig tail wasn't too bad on the eyes either compared to the worthless wastes of skin that served as a crew on this ship. She would watch the samurai for hours on end and just sigh, and her mouth would water when the other young man would do his morning exercises on the deck. The captain's orders applied to her as well, she didn't understand why because she wasn't interested in the girls. It was the way the female passengers on the ship treated the young men named Ranma and Tenchi that gave her a clue as to why keeping her distance was a good idea. They were all nuts about them, and they shared those feelings. The only one Ranma didn't show the same affection for was the red headed girl with the pig tail, but Megumi discovered she was his sister. Tenchi she noticed was thin but well built and practiced with a bokken practice sword. His harem of beauties was one of most bizarre collection is strange but gorgeous women Megumi had ever seen.  
  
As a smuggling vessel the "Old Man of the Sea" could not take a direct route to China via the normal shipping lanes. There were too many regular Chinese navy patrols, so the vessel took an alternate route which added a few more days to the trip to Josenkyo. Ten days total, if truth be told, good weather permitting. Ranma and Akane went below decks, there wasn't a cabin large enough for him to share with all of his girls so they each had to have separate rooms. Thankfully these rooms were all in the same section of the ship, and the girls each took turns staying in Ranma's cabin at night. Tenchi and his girls, Ryoko, Aeka, and Mihoshi did pretty much the same thing.  
  
They passed Tenchi and Mihoshi as they headed up towards the deck, when Ranma mentioned that they were headed for the ship's onsen his cousin and his iinazuke decided to join them for a good bath. The onsen was the only room on the ship not covered in decades of rust, grease, and grim. Kirokori Megumi was in charge of keeping it clean, since she used it she made sure nothing that the male crew members probably did have never got to her, so the place was always sparkling clean and sanitized.  
  
Even after more than a year Tenchi still could believe his eyes when Ranma changed into a girl. Akane dumped a wash tub over her iinazuke's head and he transformed instantly. Mihoshi, wrapped in a towel like Aeka, sat behind Tenchi scrubbing his back with loving care.  
  
"When we get to Josenkyo I want you and your ladies to stay away from the springs, ok cuz." Ranma warned him.  
  
Tenchi waved to him. "I sorta understand the danger."  
  
"Good, because Washu might hurt me if you return from China transformed into a pig or rat or bird or something." Ranma replied.  
  
"Or he could fall into the spring you fell into." said Mihoshi.  
  
Tenchi shuddered at the thought of turning into a girl every time he got splashed with cold water. He was curious though, what would he look like as a girl. The First Prince of Jurai banished the thought immediately. "I'd rather not think about that." he grinned.  
  
Ranma was about to say something in reply when suddenly the floor beneath them lurched to one said. The two cousins shifted their weight and moved their bodies in such a way so their feet stayed steady on the floor, then they grabbed their girls to keep them from flying across the room. Loose bottles of shampoo and bathing lotion went flying past them.  
  
"What the hell was that?" Ranma shouted a question as alert klaxons went off around the ship.  
  
Quickly the four of them raced to the dressing room, dried off, changed into their fresh clothes, and made for the upper deck. Most of the crew was already up to and looking out over the side of the ship. Shampoo, Ukyo, Aeka, and Ryoko were there as well near the front of the rusty old vessel. Moments later Kuno Hikaru emerged from below with katana in hand.  
  
"Is it a sea monster?" he asked, his hand ready to draw his family sword.  
  
"Its a monster alright." Ryoko replied pointing towards the sea.  
  
A column of water rose from the surface of the ocean, not a spray, but a solid column of pure water as if it were being drawn up into an invisible container of some design. The column expanded and slowly began to take the shape of a human face. Ranma and Tenchi watched as the water of the Sea of Japan took on the likeness of Kun-Lao, the Chi Sorcerer. The girls and Kuno Hikaru all took fighting stances when they saw the face forming.  
  
"Taking a boat ride I see." said the face of Kun-Lao. "So you know about the key in Joketsuzoku."  
  
"You will not possess the key!" Cologne shouted at the apparition and shook her fist.  
  
"On the contrary Matriarch Cologne, I will very soon possess that which is rightfully mine." Kun-Lao smirked.  
  
"Stupid magic boy no get key from Amazon village easily." Shampoo spat.  
  
"You speak the truth my lovely." said Kun-Lao. "You Nyanchiczu are rather impressive specimens of beauty. Its a shame that I have to destroy your entire village, you all could have provided me with such entertainment."  
  
"You touch a hair on the heads of Shampoo's people and I'll kill you!" Ranma cried.  
  
Shampoo puffed up with pride over Ranma's declaration and commitment to protect her people. Cologne could not help but feel very thankful. "You are quiet welcome to try boy, come to China and we'll see who kills whom." Kun-Lao returned and with that said the apparition formed out of water suddenly fell towards the ship. The crew ran for cover as nearly a ton of sea water slammed onto the deck. When Ranma awoke on "her" back on the deck she noticed a small weight on her chest.  
  
"Meow?" Shampoo meowed questioningly. In cat speak she said, "Is airen alright?"  
  
"C-C-C-Cat!!!!!" Ranma-chan screamed hysterically.  
  
A hand quickly reached out and snatched the white and purple kitty off of Ranma-chan's chest. Akane cradled Shampoo in her arms and scratched her behind the ears. "That wasn't a good idea Shampoo, you know how Ranma is with cats." she said.  
  
The cat nodded. "Meow."  
  
"Is everyone alright?!" Tenchi shouted as he climbed to his feet. There were many groans and grunts as everyone else picked themselves up.  
  
"I really hate that guy." Ryoko groaned. She had been slammed to the deck of the ship by Aeka when the water struck. This left the two girls in a rather suggestive looking position.  
  
"What in the Nine Rings of Hell was that?!" the captain of the "Old Man of the Sea" demanded. Kowishara Huruku had been the captain of the ship for nearly fifteen years. He was old seaman, once serving in the Merchant Marines, and now running one of many smuggler ships in the Sea of Japan. He was over sixty four years old, yet despite his age he still had the vitality of youth due to his martial arts background, and what he called "cleaning living". Huruku, who the crew lovingly called "Old Cap" had earned the respect and admiration of his crew. His years of experience pulled them through many disasters, natural and otherwise.  
  
"That, my dear captain was the trouble I warned you about." Cologne explained. She touched very lightly on the fact that they were after someone who wasn't to be taken lightly.  
  
"Did any of my men get washed overboard?" he asked surveying the deck as if taking a visual account of his men.  
  
"We didn't see anybody fall overboard." Ranma replied.  
  
"What is our distance to China?" Cologne inquired as she pogo sticked over to the captain.  
  
"About fifty nautical miles since our last position check." Huruku told her. "But we have about one-hundred and ten miles left before we reach port."  
  
It unnerved Cologne that Kun-Lao had been able to locate them so easily at sea. She had hoped that by not using the living space ship they would avoid giving off telltale vibes allowing him to find them. Her concern now was for her group, Ranma and Tenchi, the girls, and the crew of the ship. Kun-Lao could easily send them to the bottom if he put his mind to it.  
  
"Prepare one of your launches, the Nyanchiczu will compensate you for it's loss." she said to him. "It is not my desire to endanger you or your crew any further, we will continue this journey on our own."  
  
Captain Huruku looked at her then looked at the lazily rolling sea. "Begging your pardon Matriarch, but we got a gale coming in." he gestured towards the waters. "You take a small launch out in that and you ain't gonna make it to shore."  
  
"He's right, sugar, that water's starting to get kinda rough." Ukyo agreed.  
  
"I've been sailing this ocean since I was fifteen years old." the captain said. "What I saw today isn't as nearly weird as some of the other shit I've seen out there from time to time." Many of the other nearby crewmen who'd been with the "Old Man of the Sea" nodded or grunted in agreement.  
  
"I'm afraid we must risk it." Cologne countered. "Our enemy is on the move he likely has a head start on us by several days."  
  
Ranma-chan looked at her. "Uh, you remember the last time we got caught out in a storm at sea?" Cologne just rolled her eyes. She knew what Ranma was talking about, the incident on Tatawaki Kuno's yacht that got them shipwrecked and then a rescue mission to Torgenkyo rescue the girls.  
  
"I don't think Prince Toma will kidnap the girls this time." she replied with a smirk.  
  
"I'm not worried about that." Ranma-chan shot back fold her arms over her ample chest. "What if we capsize or something out there?"  
  
"The pretty young lady's right." one of the crewmen spoke up.  
  
"Tell ya what, we're a bit of ahead of schedule, so we'll alter course and take to within twenty miles of the coast and drop you off there." Captain Huruku suggested. "But it could be dangerous, coastal patrols and all."  
  
Cologne smiled and waved her hand. "Do not worry about the agents of Beijing, my people have learned that they can be easily bought."  
  
The captain shrugged. "Whatever, you're the one paying the bill for this ride." He turned and headed back towards the rear of the ship.  
  
"This detour should shave off at least a few days off our travel time." Cologne explained to the others. "We must still hike across county to our valley."  
  
"Pops and I used to hop onto freight trains to get around in China when we found them." Ranma-chan detailed remembering their trip through China to reach Josenkyo the first time.  
  
"When we went to China to save Akane from that Prince Kirin guy we all took a row boat." Ranko interjected. "Then hiked across country."  
  
"I'm starting to think maybe we should have flown in Ryu-Ohki after all." Ryoko sighed in exasperation. Aeka and Mihoshi nodded in agreement.  
  
"When we reach the shore we will be relatively close to our lands." Cologne pointed out to them. "The cross country journey will be two days, no less."  
  
"I wonder how much of a head start does Kun-Lao have on us anyway?" Akane asked.  
  
"Impossible to tell." Hikaru said frowning. "It could be that he is at this moment sailing the same sea that we are."  
  
The Hentai Twins came up from below decks with their aunt Rouge. It was her idea to keep them below in their cabin away from the crew. The twin's choice of attire was extremely distracting, but the strategy was not meant to keep from tempting the crew so much as to keep the girls from misbehaving.  
  
"We use spell, Kun-Lao is on mainland." Salt, the white haired twin announced.  
  
"How far into the mainland is he?" Cologne asked quickly. If he reached the mainland already it meant he had a good one day head start on them or more.  
  
"Only a few kilometers." Pepper, the black haired twin, answered.]  
  
"That means he has a last a possible one or two day head start on us!" Cologne growled in frustration.  
  
"Is there any way we can send a warning to the village that he's coming?" Tenchi asked Cologne.  
  
She shook her head. "We have no telephones or access to telegraphs."  
  
"We can send a Spirit Messenger!" the twins chorused and jumped up and down. The crewmen were all fixated on the way certain parts of their anatomy bounced and jiggled. A good number of them collapsed from nosebleed induced blood loss.  
  
"What's that?" Akane asked.  
  
"It is a magical sprite created to carry a verbal message to whomever you choose to send it to." Cologne explained. She turned to the twins. "Go below, you're distracting the crew, and prepare the spell quickly."  
  
"Hai! Honored Matriarch!" the twins replied then bounded away below decks to the disappointment of nearly every man on the ship.  
  
"Those girls are going to be the death of me someday." Rough sighed and followed slowly after them.  
  
"Somebody had better go down into the hold and drag Happy out." Cologne suggested. "Knowing him he's opened every crate of hentai material on the ship."  
  
Ranko walked around the gathered "task force" and headed below decks. "I'll go fetch the little pervert." She sent a wink Ranma-chan's way before vanishing down the stairs. His iinazuke all growled a bit at this but only for a moment.  
  
Four hours later, Ranma, Ranko, and Tenchi heaved on a rope as they dragged the launch onto shore. It had been a harrowing experience navigating the rough waters over only a short twenty mile stretch. But, the most exciting part of the journey was getting Happosai out of the hold of the "Old Man of the Sea". The diminutive pervert was neck deep in hentai magazines and manga. Ranko had to resort to luring him away by stripping down totally naked so that Ranma and Tenchi could trap him in a net. Doing so was difficult as Tenchi was constantly on the verge of a major nosebleed. Ranko was every bit as lovely as Ranma's cursed form. Meanwhile, the twins cast the Spirit Messenger spell, and hoped it would reach the village in time.  
  
The girls under Cologne's direction covered the launch in tree branches to camouflage it from the coastal patrols. Hikaru was skilled at covering up tracks. Using a large tree branch he brushed the sand erasing all evidence of something heavy having been dragged across. The waves lapping against the shore could erase the rest of the evidence in time.  
  
"We have six hours until it starts getting dark, we'd better start now and find a place to camp when the sun starts setting." Cologne checked the sky and the position of the sun.  
  
"I think I remember this place." Ranma looked around at the surroundings remembering various landmarks. "Isn't there a village near here where a healer name Lo-Ping lives?"  
  
Cologne nodded. "Hai. We are very close to that village."  
  
"Then Josenkyo isn't far away, maybe a good day's journey after we camp tonight." Ranko added.  
  
"Correct, now we should be moving." Cologne smiled. Everyone picked up their backpacks, Ranma carried his and Akane's, and headed across country. China was a mountainous country, there was very little level ground. The communist government worked to remedy that by leveling the land for farming and settlement. Many major rivers were dammed for hydroelectric power. This resulted in several problems, for much of the land leveled by the government had been wetlands. During the rainy season many of these areas were prone to catastrophic flooding during times of severe weather. It didn't happen often, but it happened often enough to require the building of drainage canals to carry away excess water from the flatlands. This water washed away the industrial pollution laid down for decades in the high population areas and resulted in a environmental disaster for the country, but very few people in the world knew of it. The Amazons did, for that same contaminated water began to drain into their pristine water supply. This required the Nyanchiczu to seek other sources of water. They found that source in the mountains around Josenkyo. From the mountain bubbled a spring of pure water that was diverted into a reservoir that served as the main water supply for the entire region. Joketsuzoku was the main village of the Amazon people, there were five villages total. No one village could contain all of their people at one time, and after the arrival of the communists it was deemed very important to keep things that way.  
  
A system of bamboo pipes buried shallow in the ground a series of pumping stations powered by diesel fuel supplied each village with all the water they needed. Though they did not have indoor plumbing and had to get the water from the village fountain, it was far better than having to pay the expense and attract attention by building a large treatment facility for the regular water supply. Within recent years, pressure from other nations forced China to recognize the environmental problems in their water supply. For the past twenty years the rivers and lakes around the lands of the Amazons have seen the amount of pollution drop, but never completely go away. After almost forty years of getting their water from the reservoir the Amazons never went back gathering water from the river again.  
  
Ranma, Tenchi, and the rest of the group followed this same river through the wilderness. The lands around the valley of Josenkyo are some of the most beautiful but also some of the most Kami forsaken land in the world. The land was rugged, almost impossible to traverse even with off- road vehicles. The diesel pumps for the water supply had to be flown in with helicopters. This region had been the hiding place for many marauding bands of outlaws who plagued the lands of China during those chaotic years between the fall of the Emperor and the rise of the communists. Even before that time it was home to all sorts of groups who wanted to remain unseen. It was a perfect place for the Amazons to remain hidden from the rest of the world. Modern day satellite technology and ground imaging systems have recently opened up the region to exploration by the communists of Beijing. Unbeknownst to them, their efforts were being thwarted by the Chi Sorceresses of the Nyanchiczu who let the government see only what they wanted them to see.  
  
As the sun was slowly dropping below the rim of a large mountain chain, the group reached the crest of a great hill. In the distance, Tenchi spotted what looked like a huge lake. He lifted a pair of binoculars to his eyes and realized what he thought had been a lake was really a huge collection of smaller bodies of water. Hundreds of them in fact.  
  
"Is that-" he began.  
  
"Yes, that is Josenkyo." Cologne answered.  
  
Ranma shielded his eyes from the light of the low hanging sun and judge the distance. "We're about a day and half away at best, unless we can find a better train." Indeed, the train they were traveling was some of the most rugged land there was.  
  
"We should reach the road you and your father used to reach the springs tomorrow morning." Cologne said. "It will mean that we will have to pass through Josenkyo to reach the village however."  
  
"That's ok, as long as we get there faster." Tenchi's tone showed that even his immense patience was starting to wear thin.  
  
"Just because we're walking through there doesn't mean anything will happen." Ryoko added patting Tenchi on the shoulder. ":Right?"  
  
Cologne looked at the two of them with a hard expression. "It has been known to happen that people intending to just pass through Josenkyo end up obtaining a curse by accident, some even say the pools call to people sometimes.."  
  
"Lets not worry about that right now." Ranma jumped in hoping to change the subject. "If we keep going down this trail another hour we should reach that small clearing down there." Everyone turned to look where he was pointing and saw the clearing in the wood far down the hill.  
  
"Hey, isn't that where we and pop camped out when we were running form Shampoo?" Ranko asked her brother. He nodded.  
  
"Aiya, it is, Shampoo remember place." the beautiful Amazon nodded in agreement also.  
  
"It's only a few minutes from the road, but far enough out of the way so we have some cover." Ranma added.  
  
"There's also a stream there for a water supply and if I remember there were a few berry bushes down there." Ranko said remembering the details about the place.  
  
"Blackberries I think they're called." Ranma replied.  
  
The stars were starting to appear in the sky as they reached the clearing. They had just enough light left in the sky to pitch a few tents without have to break out the flashlights. The ring of stones that marked the old fire pit Ranma and his father used were still there. Akane, Ryoko, and Mihoshi gathered firewood while Ukyo and Shampoo prepared to make dinner. Aeka and Cologne set to the task of making some tea. Tenchi, Ranma, Happosai, Hikaru and Ranko did a patrol around the campsite looking for any sign of Kun-Lao. They could barely hear Rouge and the Hentai Twins as they moved around further out in the woods setting up trip wire traps and magical wards. When the moon rose in the sky everyone returned to camp just as the girls finished cooking.  
  
"Our Spirit Messenger must have reached the village by now." said Salt.  
  
"Yes, it is likely Elder Lotion is having defenses erected around Joketsuzoku as we speak." Cologne nodded.  
  
"Kun-Lao is pretty formidable with that magic of his, can your people hold him off?" Ukyo asked her.  
  
Cologne shook her head. "Sadly, I do not know. I pray they can delay him until we arrive."  
  
"These mountains have changed so little since I came this way." Hikaru Kuno commented.  
  
"We like it that way." Cologne smiled at him.  
  
Ranko gobbled down her bowl of rice in record time. She, Ranma, and Ryoko seemed to be in a race to see who could finish their food first. When she was done she asked, "Perfume is likely going to be a forefront of any defense, being the village enforcer, right?"  
  
Cologne nodded. "Likely, yes."  
  
"Perfume very strong, that why she village enforcer." Shampoo explained.  
  
"Yeah, but she's also just as drop dead gorgeous as you are." Ranko pointed out to her. "And we all know how that sick bastard is."  
  
"He makes Happosai look tame." Akane laughed.  
  
"Hey!" the old pervert frowned, speaking for the first time since being dragged kicking and screaming off the "Old Man of the Sea".  
  
"Gee, it finally speaks." Ranko said trying not to sound too disappointed.  
  
"Because of you three I'll never know if Yuko and the Tentacle Fiend of Kyoto get married or not!" Happosai fumed pointing at Ranma, Tenchi, and Ranko.  
  
"Is that from Tentacle Fiend Zero number twenty-two or Tentacle Fiend Resurrection number forty?" Ryoko asked him.  
  
"You read hentai manga?" Akane asked he former space pirate in surprise.  
  
"Oh yeah, Tenchi's dad has a collection of just about every Tentacle Fiend manga ever published." Ryoko replied and gave Tenchi an affectionate smile.  
  
"Sweeto!" Happosai cheered. "Me and your pop are gonna become good friends for now on Tenchi my boy!"  
  
The old pervert suddenly found himself smashed under the foot of a Juraian Princess and a Former Space Pirate. "Oh no you don't, he's bad enough!" they both growled.  
  
Ignoring the small battle taking place between Happosai and the two alien women Tenchi asked, "Where in the village is the key hidden, Matriarch?"  
  
"In the tomb of Ambrosia at the center of the village." she answered him. "It is near the village fountain that is feed by our makeshift waterworks."  
  
"Any idea on the locations of the three others?" Ranma asked and looked at the amorous Hentai Twins.  
  
"We think we felt one in Nerima while on the ship, but we'd have to check again to be sure." Pepper told him.  
  
"Nerima?" Ranma gasped.  
  
"Some old stories say that before she died, Ambrosia gave one of the keys to the Kuno clan as a gift for Hikaru's sacrifice." Cologne replied remembering some of the ancient lore of her people.  
  
Ranma threw up his hands in frustration. Hikaru looked at him with a funny expression then looked to Akane. "We haven't told you much about your family." she said to him. "There are Kunos living in Nerima."  
  
"Why have you not told me this?" the samurai demanded.  
  
"Because we didn't want you to see what the Kuno clan has become in recent years." Ranma answered in a low tone. "They are rich and have a great deal of influence in the community but they also have a reputation that you would not look favorably upon."  
  
"Please, explain to me what you mean." Hikaru looked to Ranma and Akane with a pleading expression on his face.  
  
"Kuno family crazy." Shampoo cut in. "Oldest son Tatawaki think he samurai, but he just big bully who think he Kami gift to all women. Daughter, Kodachi, is crazy girl who make poisons from black rose. Father is madman who think he be cool surfer from place called Hawaii, he run the high school like it his personal torture chamber."  
  
Hikaru put his face in his hands and was silent for a long time as everyone looked at him. "Alas, I had thought with the death of Ikaru the Madness Curse of my clan that caused us to loose our honor the first time was over."  
  
"Madness Curse?" everyone asked in surprise.  
  
"Hai! A Madness Curse effected many in my clan, made them turn against the emperor and we lost our name in dishonor." Hikaru explained. "The emperor knew my branch of the family did not have the curse, thus that is why he allowed me to remain a samurai in his employ secretly."  
  
"Who put this curse on your family?" Cologne asked. She had never heard of this before today. She had assumed that the father had gone mad due to his isolation in the islands, and the children due to their upbringing by their abusive mother.  
  
"That knowledge has been lost long before I was born." Hikaru replied.  
  
Akane put a reassuring hand on the man's shoulder. "You're, you're not going to commit seppoku because of this are you?"  
  
The samurai looked up at her and saw the warmth and worry in her eyes. For a moment he had been contemplating it, but the thought of doing so suddenly made the image of Kasumi appear blocking the path towards those thoughts. He shook his head. "No, though it would be appropriate for me to do so under my code, I cannot." he said. "To do so would mean leaving the woman I love and waited centuries to be reunited with. There is no way I could control what my clan has become in this modern age."  
  
"You could adopt the Tendo name if you married Kasumi." Akane offered.  
  
Hikaru smiled. "I remember a samurai baring that name, a most honorable man."  
  
Morning did not come too soon for Tenchi and Ranma. Everyone woke up at the crack of dawn, ate a quick breakfast over cooked by Shampoo over a open flame then headed out. The road, if it could be called that, wasn't so much a road as it was a well worn path through the forest. It wasn't wide enough to accommodate a large vehicle like a truck or a car. The road was in good enough condition that they excellent time. Soon they were cresting a hill that overlooked Josenkyo before winding down into the valley that held the cursed springs. As they reached the top of the hill Hikaru Kuno stopped and gave out a gasp like a hiss.  
  
"Smoke." he pointed out beyond the cursed springs to clouds of black smoke rising from the hills beyond.  
  
"Aiya! That were village is!" Shampoo cried.  
  
"We must hurry!" Cologne exclaimed as she hurried down the road.  
  
As everyone reached the lower part of the valley they enter the grounds of the curse springs of Josenkyo. Tenchi gave them a nervous look before following his cousin. They soon came upon the Guide's hut, its condition set off alarms in the group. The bamboo and grass structure was smashed almost completely flat. Ranma and Akane walked over to the ruins of the building. A strange sickening smell greeted them. With is foot Ranma lifted a piece of roof panel. The stench of horrible and what was underneath was even worse. Akane gasped in fright and threw her arms around Ranma as the contents of her stomach threatened to come out. Ranma pulled her away from the horrific scene and the smell urging her to breath and calm herself. Cologne and Rouge walked over the body Ranma had discovered and looked it over as if the smell didn't even matter.  
  
"Its the guide." Cologne said without emotion. "This happened two or three days ago."  
  
"His head was crushed." Rouge added.  
  
"Two or three days, he can't have that far a head start on us." Ryoko protested.  
  
"Plum must have run away, I don't see any sign of her, I hope she's ok." said Ranma and Akane nodded in agreement.  
  
Tenchi noticed Hikaru examining something on the ground. When he walked over to the samurai he realized he was looking at strange animal tracks in the soil. They looked like no animal tracks he'd ever seen. They were very large, like that of a bear, but had the toes of an ape. If he had to guess as to the size of the thing that made them, it had to be huge.  
  
"What kind of tracks are those?" he asked.  
  
"Troll, mountain troll from the way the large toe bends inward like a thumb." Hikaru said. "These are only one or two days old at the most."  
  
"Troll?" Tenchi looked at him with surprise.  
  
"Mountain troll, vile creatures." Hikaru said as he stood up. "Very large creatures bearing a resemblance to apes except the face is more human and they have less hair. From these tracks I would estimate at least five came through here."  
  
"They must be what killed the guide." Ranma spoke up while he was still holding Akane who was starting to get the color back in her face.  
  
"Aiya. Mountain troll no like to come down out of peaks." Shampoo said.  
  
Cologne bounded up and looked at the tracks her herself as did everyone else. "Your tracking skills are formidable Hikaru Kuno, at least five of the vile beasts have been here." she said.  
  
"They would only come out of the mountains if ordered to do so by Gaal, their tribal leader." Rouge added.  
  
Ukyo and the other girls looked at her. "These things have a tribe." Ukyo said unbelievingly.  
  
"Why are we standing around!" Ryoko shouted to them from her vantage point high in the air. "I think Shampoo's people are in big trouble!"  
  
"What do you see?" Aeka asked her.  
  
"I'm no expert, but I'd say we just walked into full scale siege." the ex-space pirate replied.  
  
As fast as they could run the rest of the group made it though the small valley of Josenkyo then made for the road that lead to the village of Joketsuzoku. They began to hear the sounds of great drums, the deep guttural cries of huge creatures, and the higher pitched battle cry of Amazon warriors. The village of Joketsuzoku was surrounded by a huge wall made from the largest trees in the region. The Amazons could easily erect such a wall for defense in less than a day and a half if the whole village helped. Ballista and catapults could be fired at enemies approaching the walls, or fired at siege engines to stop their advance. Archers would line the walls ready to pick off anyone trying to scale them, and armed warriors were there to take on any who succeeded to get that far. It was an ancient and archaic means of defense that did not work at all in age of modern weaponry, but the foe the Nyanchiczu faced this day fought as primitively as they did.  
  
Mountain trolls, huge creatures, moved massive bamboo siege engines towards the wall. They were rickety structures made form lashed together bamboo rods and animal skins that allowed hundreds of warriors to storm over a fortress wall within minutes without climbing up ropes. Flaming balls of pitch and napham came flying over the wall setting the siege towers aflame. Dozens of the brutish monsters, each wearing armor made form heavy leather and carrying huge weapons made of stone fell as three foot long ballista bolts struck them in the chest. Not all the casualties were on the troll's side of the battle. Bodies of dozens of Nyanchiczu littered the battlefield or lay at the foot of the defensive wall.  
  
"AIYA!" Shampoo cried in dismay.  
  
"Whoa! I think I've seen this in a movie once!" Ukyo gasped.  
  
Akane pointed towards the battle and looked at Ranma. "We're going into the middle of that!?"  
  
Ranko answered by cracking her knuckles. "I call this a target rich environment."  
  
"What could have gotten them so riled up?" Happosai questioned rubbing his chin. "Mountain trolls usually keep to themselves."  
  
"Let me give you one guess." Cologne said to him.  
  
"Kun-Lao." said Tenchi.  
  
Hikaru drew his sword and gestured towards the creatures. "Gaal served Kun-Lao during my time, trolls are nearly immortal sleeping for hundreds of years without aging a day. The best and quickest way to kill them is either by crushing their skulls or piercing their hearts."  
  
"EWWW!" Aeka, Mihoshi, Ukyo and Akane cried out at once.  
  
"The skull of a mountain troll is nearly three inches thick." Cologne explained to them. "Their hide is almost as thick of leather armor, but our finely crafted arrowheads can pierce their flesh easily."  
  
Ranma laughed. "Damn, and I thought Ryoga had a hard head."  
  
"We have little time for any further banter, we must reach the village quickly!" Cologne shouted and she raced off towards Joketsuzoku. Everyone else joined her and ran with all their might the rest of the way to the defensive wall around the village. The trolls, being creatures of great brawn but of little brain, we're attacking the defensive wall of the Amazon village only from one direction. It didn't occur to them that it would have overwhelmed the defenses of Joketsuzoku if they attacked all sides at once. A few individual groups did get the hint, but they didn't survive very long when arrows suddenly rained down on top of them.  
  
An Amazon named Lilac directed the archers on one of the walls frequented by the brutish creatures. It happened to be the section of wall that Ranma and the others were running towards. The archers raised their bows preparing to fire as they saw several figures advancing through the smoke.  
  
"Hold your fire!" Lilac ordered. "Its the Matriarch!"  
  
Lilac was a tall woman, one of the tallest among the Nyanchiczu. She carried a crossbow with a shoulder sling, and slung over her back she carried a dual edged long sword. Her right arm sported a small buckler shield. Like many Amazons she was a true beauty, not as voluptuous as Shampoo or her cousin Perfume, but in bust size she rated very highly. Her outfit looked like something straight out of the old American TV show "Xena: Warrior Princess" and was made entirely of tanned leather with an under layer of fine chain mail armor.  
  
"Ropes!" she called out and three of the archers dropped their bows and began tossing ropes over the wall. Cologne was the first to reach the wall and scaled up one of the ropes with the ease that came from centuries of practice.  
  
"Honored Matriarch!" Lilac bowed as Cologne climbed onto the catwalk that lined the walls.  
  
"Lilac, where is your mother?" Cologne asked.  
  
The Amazon gestured towards the heart of the village. "She is with the council right now, she received your Spirit Messenger two days ago." she said.  
  
"These others who have accompanied me are friends of the Nyanchiczu and are to be treated as such." the Matriarch said gesturing towards the others scaling the wall. "They have come to help defend the village."  
  
"As you wish, honored one." Lilac bowed in response.  
  
Ranma watched as Happosai and Ukyo made it up the ropes. He waited, holding Ukyo's rope until she made it to the top. Akane looked at the thin hemp rope and then looked at Ranma. "I couldn't climb these things even in gym class." she protested.  
  
"Hang onto me then." he told her turning his back to Akane. She wrapped her arms around his neck from behind and held on with all her strength as Ranma scaled the wall with ease despite the added weight. Ranma risked looking down as he climbed and saw Tenchi carrying Aeka up the wall the same way. Ryoko, carrying Mihoshi in her arms, flew to the top of the wall. Shampoo and Hikaru were the last to go up. They stood guard for any attacks with weapons drawn.  
  
"How long has the village been under siege?" Cologne asked the tall Amazon.  
  
Lilac cocked and loaded her crossbow. "Four days now, our scouts in the mountains spotted the trolls coming down from their peaks a week ago so we had time to prepare for them."  
  
"We were still at sea at that time!" Tenchi exclaimed.  
  
"What of Gaal?" Cologne asked.  
  
"We have not seen him." Lilac told her.  
  
Hikaru looked puzzled and everyone noticed. They had learned since the fight with the Lich to listen to the ancient samurai and take note of his expression. Of all of them he had the most experience dealing with Kun-Lao and his minions. "They would not move without their tribal leader." he said. "Trolls do not recognize leadership without the challenge of combat and Gaal is the strongest among them. Any who tried to take charge without challenging Gaal as leader would have been killed and eaten as per their laws."  
  
"Those things are cannibals?!" Aeka gasped in revulsion.  
  
"Only if they have no other food sources, but from time to time they will eat their own kind if they are killed for committing an offense deserving death." Cologne explained to them. "They believe that eating the flesh of the one who wronged the tribe appeases their gods."  
  
"How barbaric." Aeka looked like she was about to turn green.  
  
"There is only one other reason why they would come out of the mountains without their tribal leader." Hikaru continued.  
  
"Lack of food is one thing that could have done it." Lilac jumped in and added. "Or one of our scouts in the mountains got into a skirmish with one of them and that set them off."  
  
The sound of booming drums pierced the air and literally made the air reverberate with the sound. The archers on the wall, male and female Nyanchiczu readied their bows.  
  
"They are attacking again!" Lilac hissed. Sure enough, the army of mountain trolls shifted their attack to that part of the defensive wall now. Lilac's archers let their arrows fly and the howls of dying trolls filled the air.  
  
"They are only attacking one point in the wall at a time?" Tenchi asked the tall Amazon.  
  
Lilac nodded. "Yes, these monsters are too stupid to try anything more sophisticated."  
  
"Something isn't right." Tenchi murmured scratching his chin.  
  
"These loathsome beasts are dumb." said Cologne. "They will keep throwing themselves against our walls until the last of them have fallen to our arrows and swords."  
  
Ranma walked over to his cousin. "What are you thinking, cousin?"  
  
"If Kun-Lao is directing these creatures to attack us, why do it like this?" Tenchi said questioningly. "We know he's a lot smarter than this."  
  
"But is he directing them." said Cologne.  
  
"Who else would be?" Tenchi asked her. "Hikaru just said these creatures served him in his time."  
  
Suddenly Cologne's eyes became very wide as if she had been suddenly surprised. Everyone looked at her questioningly as the old woman suddenly became very pale.  
  
"The catacombs!" she gasped.  
  
"Catacombs?" Tenchi said questioningly.  
  
"There be many many catacombs under village that run deep into mountains." Shampoo explained. "Amazons mapped some of them but there so many it impossible to map it all."  
  
"Ancient lava ducts and steam vents from the days when the mountains in this region were active volcanoes." said Cologne. "There is an entrance to the catacombs down in Ambrosia crypt. Eventually a few lead to Josendo."  
  
Tenchi and Ranma both looked at her, then at each other. They both leapt from the catwalk and ran through the village towards where they both believed the center could be found. Cologne bounded after them with the rest of the group running close behind. They soon arrived at a stone statue erected in the center of the village in dedication to the ancient warrior. The two cousins noted that the woman was very beautiful in her day, looking very much like Shampoo in some ways.  
  
"How do we get in?" Tenchi asked.  
  
"I don't see any doors." Ranma said as he walked around the statue.  
  
"You have to move the statue to the side to reveal the entrance." Cologne told them as she skidded to a halt. The two young men put their shoulders to the huge stone statue and began to push. They both groaned with the strain, then slowly the stone began to move to the side revealing a small square hold carved out of its base.  
  
"Looks deep." Ranma said as he peered inside.  
  
"Its only a short drop of six feet, the tunnel is small, you will have to crawl most of the way until you reach the larger tunnel." Cologne explained. "After that you must keep to the right until you reach the chamber that holds the key and Ambrosia's crypt."  
  
Ranma shrugged and lowered himself into the hole. When he was inside Tenchi started climbing down, he looked up at Ryoko and the others who gathered around. "Ryoko, you and Aeka go and see what help you can give the Amazons fighting off those creatures." he told her.  
  
"What about you Lord Tenchi?" Aeka asked him.  
  
"Ranma's is with me, and I have the sword." he reassured her.  
  
"Besides I'm coming along too." Ranko insisted.  
  
Ranma stuck his head up out of the hole. "Ukyo, Shampoo see what you can do too." he told them. "Akane, I'd like you to come with me."  
  
"Why, maybe I can help." she protested.  
  
"I got no idea what might be down here, we're safer in numbers." he explained and Akane nodded.  
  
"What about me?" Mihoshi asked.  
  
"Guard this hole and don't let anything come out unless its one of us." Ranma told her.  
  
The blond GP officer drew her side arm. "Nothing will get past me." she said cheerfully.  
  
"Tenchi, son-in-law, be careful down there." Cologne told them. "There are many strange things beneath the earth in this land, so be on your guard down there."  
  
"Why not guide the way?" 'Akane asked her as she climbed down into the hole with Tenchi's help.  
  
"My people need me up here, besides reaching the crypt is easy, stay to the right and you will reach it quickly." the old matriarch said and passed several torches to them.  
  
"What does the key look like?" Ranma asked her.  
  
"You will know it when you see it, it is made of almost solid jade." she told him.  
  
"I will give what aid I can to the Joketsuzoku as well." Hikaru said as Ranko descended into the hole after Akane.  
  
Loud warning cries from another section of the wall sounded drawing their attention. Cologne climbed up onto the statue and peered into the distance. She saw archers firing down the wall at something, then the head of a troll pop over the head and was nearly cleaved in half by Lilac.  
  
"The trolls have divided their attack into two strikes, they are dumb creatures but they can learn." she muttered unhappily.  
  
"SEIGE ENGINES! SEIGE ENGINES!" came a cry from another part of the wall.  
  
"Oh bugger!" Cologne cursed and bounded down to the ground. "Hikaru come with me, this battle is getting worse by the second." The samurai nodded and followed the ancient matriarch who bounded off using her cane like pogo stick.  
  
Under the earth, Ranma, Tenchi, Ranko, and Akane made their way through the darkness of the small tunnel on their hands and knees. Akane was glad that she decided to wear something other than a dress on this trip and had an outfit more like the one she wore to Josendo originally. The low, narrow tunnel ran for several feet, at times it grew narrower and wider until eventually it opened up into a large area. Once everyone was out Tenchi lit everyone's torches from a box of matches in his pocket. The tunnel they were in was made of black, igneous rock which proved it had once been a lava tube. They followed the tunnel keeping to the right like the old matriarch had said. Eventually the tunnel forked left and right, and they kept to the right until the tunnel suddenly ended and they found themselves before large, ornate door made of stone. Ancient carvings that Ranma recognized as Chinese kanji covered the door along with pictures depicting many battles.  
  
"This is it." he said.  
  
"Doesn't look like anybody has been in there." Ranko commented.  
  
"That's a good sign, it means we got here first." Tenchi nodded.  
  
Ranma stepped in front of the door and grasped it on either side. "Everybody stand back." he said and he gripped the sides of the door and grunted. The sound of stone grating against stone sounded loud in the eerie quiet deep under the earth. Akane held her breath, transfixed by the bulging muscles on Ranma's back as he strained with the weight of the door. Finally he stopped and peered into the dark interior of the crypt.  
  
"Spooky." Tenchi said while thinking this reminded him of the time he freed Ryoko from her cave.  
  
Ranma went into the crypt first. The chamber was filled with treasures that would have made the Egyptians jealous. In the center of it all was a stone burial chamber with a marble lid.  
  
"The key must be buried with her." said Ranko.  
  
"That would be the likely place." Akane nodded.  
  
Ranma and Tenchi grabbed the lid of the burial chamber and pushed. As it moved they heard the sound of a hiss as air rushed into it for the first time in centuries. A thin white mist rose from the opening they had made and began to gather above them.  
  
"Uh, Ranma!" Akane shouted pointing above them.  
  
The mist grew and grew and began to condense into a solid form. This amorphous glob of white mist morphed into the likeness of the beautiful Amazon depicted in the statue outside. Her eyes shown bright with blue light as she regarded those who disturbed her rest.  
  
"Who dares enter my tomb and disturb the rest of the dead?" the thing that looked like Ambrosia asked.  
  
Ranma hesitantly stepped towards the spirit and bowed deeply in respect. "Honored one, forgive us this intrusion." he said respectfully to the spirit. "We seek the key to the chamber of ascension hidden within your crypt. Kun Lao has escaped from his prison and now inhabits another body, and he seeks the keys, but we intend to stop him."  
  
"You are not an Amazon, you are a mere male." the spirit spat. "An agent of the foul one who took my honor."  
  
Ranma shook his head. "I am one of you by way of your laws." he told her. "I defeated the village champion of this time, and I am her husband."  
  
The spirit raised a hand towards Ranma and touched his forehead. She seemed to close her eyes for a moment then opened them and her expression of rage became serene and peaceful.  
  
"Forgive me my distrust, the key lies with my body in the tomb." she said. "Take it and may the goddess of war smile upon you as you smite the vile Kun Lao into the darkness of hell forever." With that said she vanished.  
  
There was silence in the room for a moment and Ranma seemed to suddenly stumbled and rugged his eyes. "Oh man, what the hell just happened?" he asked.  
  
"You were just talking to what I think was the ghost of that Amazon." Akane told him.  
  
"But you were talking in Chinese." Tenchi added.  
  
"Nani?" Ranma looked at them. "I don't know Mandarin."  
  
"You were speaking it." Ranko nodded towards him.  
  
"The only Mandarin I know are the words for 'husband' and 'you I love' because Shampoo is always saying them to me." Ranma protested.  
  
"Whatever!" Ranko said pushing past him and looked into the burial chamber. "Let just get that key and get the hell out of here." She came up holding what they were looking for. It did not look like a key at all, but was piece of jade encrusted with jewels and ancient writing that was in a language none of them understood.  
  
"This must be the key." she said.  
  
"Cologne said it was made of solid jade." said Akane.  
  
Together, Ranma and Tenchi replaced the marble lid on the burial chamber and slowly they left the crypt. Outside, Ranma strained with the door to put it back into place. This was more out of respect for the dead than anything else. With that finished they turned and headed down the tunnel. As they neared the fork in the chamber they heard the sound of something in front of them. Ranma and Ranko fell into a fighting stance while Tenchi ignited the Master Key. They could see movement in the flickering light of the torches. Ranko turned to Akane and handed her the key so she could fight without a hindrance.  
  
The things, if they could be called that, came into the light. At first glanced they looked like insects of some sort, but they walked on two legs. There were dozens of the little creatures slowly advancing on them, claws clicking in anticipation of rending warm flesh.  
  
"What the hell are those things?" Ranko asked in disgust.  
  
A scream from behind drew their attention and Ranma froze, his heart turned to ice. Kun Lao smirked at him as he held Akane in his arms from behind, the edge of his jeweled dagger resting against her neck. Ranma ground his teeth in frustrated rage as one of the man's hands grabbed Akane's right breast and squeezed.  
  
"And you used to call her flat chested." he said in an amused tone.  
  
"Let her go." Ranma said menacingly.  
  
"Oh, I do have to thank you for getting the key for me." Kun Lao said, his hand slowly moving down Akane's body towards the forbidden area between her legs. "The ancient magical protections placed on her tomb were even too strong for me to break, and that is a surprise."  
  
"You got the key, now let her go." Tenchi told him.  
  
The man who had once been Gosunkugi Hikaru did things with his free hand to Akane that made her blush with frustrated humiliation. Ranma could only watch as this madman molested the woman he loved and he could do nothing about it or she might fall to that blade on her neck. Moving his hand just so Kun Lao felt the reflexive shiver run through Akane despite the fact that she took no pleasure in what this man was doing to her in front of Ranma. She tried to suppress her gasp, but it was almost too much.  
  
"Nice, very receptive." Kun Lao said softly.  
  
"You are one dead son of a bitch." Ranma growled, his self- control was on the edge of giving out. The sight of that blade resting against Akane's neck was the only thing keeping him held in place or he would have been on the Chi Sorcerer within seconds.  
  
"I'd like to stay and play some more with this one, but I have a date with the Musk." Kun Lao said as he took the key out of Akane's hand and vanished. Ranma grabbed Akane into his arms the second the Chi Sorcerer was gone. She sobbed against his chest for what seemed forever as he held her and tried to calm her.  
  
"I'm sorry I reacted, I couldn't help it." Akane cried, ashamed of having gasped when that bastard made her orgasm with his hand.  
  
"I don't blame you, I love you." he told her reassuringly. "I'm going to kill that bastard, he is dead meat. Nobody but nobody molests anyone I love, nobody."  
  
He felt a hand on his shoulder and look up at Tenchi's face which wore a mask of rage and concern. Ranko gave out a battle cry and all hell suddenly broke loose. The horde of little creatures snarled and attacked. Filled with rage Ranma and Akane joined the fight with Tenchi following behind with the Master Key. They were all determined to show these "things" what rage could do in the hands of skilled martial artists.  
  
___  
  
Hikaru Kuno beheaded a troll trying to climb over the wall, and another came up right behind it wielding a heavy mace. Metal rang against metal as Hikaru's sword connected with the weapon before it came crushing down on his head. The monster roared angrily. Its rage was quenched as a dozen crossbow bolts embedded themselves into its chest. The samurai took a moment to nod his thanks to Lilac and her archers. When he turned back a troll was baring down on him with a war hammer. The samurai deflected the blow and pierced the creature in the left eye driving the tip of his sword in enough to reach the brain. The monster fell off his blade like a rag doll.  
  
Shampoo and Ukyo stood back to back, bonbari maces and baker's peel at the ready. Trolls spilled out over the wall near them and the two went into action. Shampoo crushed the skulls of two of the loathsome beasts with quick strikes. Ukyo gouged out the throats of two with the razor sharp edge of her baker's peel. The two monsters feel to the wood floor of the narrow walkway that ran around the top of the wall as their life's blood gushed out.  
  
Donning her battle garb she hadn't worn since the war with Lady Tokimi, Princess Aeka punched one advancing troll square in the face. Her punch, strong for a humanoid was enhanced by her Jurai Power. The creature went flying as blood sprayed from its broken face. Hearing an explosion near her she turned to see Ryoko blasting two troll into oblivion and grappling with a third. The cyan haired woman was much smaller than the hulking troll, but it soon discovered that this small woman was nearly its equal in strength. Ryoko grabbed the creature's arm was it tried to take her head off and threw it back out over the wall. The shrill sound of Mihoshi's GP sidearm were unmistakable as the girl took a position with the archers. Most of her shots failed to connect, but at just the right time she did manage to get a few trolls and save a few lives by accident.  
  
"I do not know if I can keep this up." Aeka huffed as she staggered a little.  
  
"This is insane, we could use Ryo-Ohki for air support right about now." Ryoko said as she caught the princess before she fell over.  
  
"She alright sugar?" Ryoko heard Ukyo ask from where she and Shampoo stood on the wall. Ryoko shook her head in reply.  
  
Cologne bounded up to the wall where they stood. "She has overused her Jurai Power, she needs rest." the old matriarch said. "Bring here this way." She turned and lead the way into the village. Ryoko followed by flying with Aeka in her arms. The princess was out by the time they reached the ground. Cologne lead Ryoko to a small cabin and guided her to lay Aeka on a large bed.  
  
"She'll be alright in here." she told the cyan haired ex-space pirate.  
  
"This whole situation is crazy!" Ryoko growled at the old woman. "There is no way we can hold out against a force of that size, and don't give a rat's ass how tough you Amazons think you are!"  
  
Cologne nodded. "I agree with you. The enemy is attack with more forces than my people can deal with, even with the help you and the others are providing."  
  
"So, what we gonna do?" Ryoko asked.  
  
"It is dangerous, but we must sent runners to Pheonix Mountain and the citadel of the Musk Dynasty to ask for help." Cologne said with a sigh. "They are in danger also for it is said that the Musk have one of the keys, and Kun Lao has no love for the people of Pheonix Mountain."  
  
Ryoko thrust at thumb at her chest. "I'll go!"  
  
"Not alone, neither the Musk nor Pheonix people know you." Cologne told her. "I'll send you with one of our warriors."  
  
"That's fine, lets get going before this seige gets worse." Ryoko told her and the two left the cabin. They reached the wall and Ryoko gasped at what she saw in the distance. The thing stood several feet higher than the rest of the trolls on the field and was garbed in heavy spiked armor. The monsterous creature carried twin spiked maces that were as large as an average human and nearly ten times the size of Shampoo's bonbari maces.  
  
"It just got worse." Cologne said, her voice dripping with dread.  
  
"What the hell is that?" Ryoko asked.  
  
"Gaal the Crusher." __________  
  
To be continued...  
  
Next time... Part 6: The Battle of Joketsuzoku - Act 2  
  
The siege of Amazon lands continues as Kun Lao makes for the Musk Dynasty for another one of the keys. Tenchi, Ranko, Ranma, and Akane continue their battle beneath the earth, but events take a strange twist and they all get separated. Can the group get together in time to stop Gaal the Crusher from destroying the Nyanchiczu?  
  
Moko Takabisha Bakusai Tenketsu Nyanchiczu Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken Umisenken Yamasenken Joketsuzoku Hiryu Shoten Ha 


	6. Part 6: The Battle of Joketsuzoku Part 2

DISCLAIMER: "Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki" is a registered trademark and copyright of AIC Inc. and Pioneer. "Ranma 1/2" is a registered trademark and copyright of Rumiko Takahashi, Viz Communications and Kitty Productions.  
  
__________  
  
T E N C H I 1 / 2: FAMILY REUNION II  
  
By Michael "TheZorch" Haney  
  
__________  
  
Part 6: The Battle of Joketsuzoku - Act 2  
  
Ryoko landed roughly on the ground next to Shampoo who looked like she was ready to fall over from exhaustion. Everyone was tired, but right now was not a time for sleep. The two exhausted women helped each other up and moved as fast as their heavy legs would carry them towards one of the many burning houses in the Amazon village. They joined several others in forming a bucket brigade to put out the fires caused by burning pitch and nampha being launched from sling catapults from outside. The sound of battle, the cries of dying trolls and screaming women sounded through the air in a constant wave. The Nyanchiczu were loosing the battle, they just would not accept it yet, but it was becoming clear to those who came to help them. The mountain trolls outnumbered them by ten to one. Though the big brutes were dumb as dirt they were certainly persistent and unafraid to face death. They threw themselves against the defenses of the village and died by the hundred, but for every ten killed twenty would take their place. Ryoko wished they had brought Ryu-Ohki along just for her firepower. If by some miracle the Amazon's survived this brutal war, a war is exactly what it was, their population will have dropped by nearly fifty five percent.  
  
Mihoshi hid behind a large wooden barricade upon the defensive wall. She could hear the sound of several arrows hitting the wood behind her, then she jumped out into the open and squeezed off several blasts. The high resolution beam shots hit their mark perfectly blowing off the heads of a group of troll archers. The beautiful GP detective's sidearm was self recharging, a technological feature that Mihoshi was now very thankful for. Further down the wall Kuonji Ukyo slashed viciously at trolls trying to scale the walls on siege ladders. Her arms felt so heavy, but she knew that if she stopped she would be dead. All of them had to buy time for Ranma and Tenchi, wherever they were. The okonomiyaki chef was not about to disappoint the man she loved. As her baker's peel beheaded another troll Princess Ayeka and the Amazon Lilac rush up and pushed the ladder away from the wall. Trolls scaling the ladder howled in rage as the ladder came crashing down on the mass of their fellow trolls below.  
  
"Disgusting creatures!" Ayeka snapped.  
  
"This battle does not go well, my archers are running out of arrows." Lilac growled as she pulled out her down long bow and fit an arrow on the string.  
  
"What could be taking Ranma honey and Tenchi?" Ukyo asked. "All they had to do is go down some hole and get the key, what's the big hold up?"  
  
Somewhere beneath the surface of the Earth below the Amazon village. "MOKO TAKABISHA!" cried Ranma and Ranko. Twin blue chi blasts lit up the darkness of the catacombs. Dozens of the small insectoid creatures squealed in agony as they were suddenly vaporized. Still more came at the four martial artists. Dozens of the things lay dead at Akane's feet where she fought to protect the spot where she stood and delivered devastating Amaguriken punches. Tenchi protected her rear fending off the creatures that managed to get passed Ranma and Ranko, cutting them down with the blue luminescent blade of the Master Key. The fight had raged on for several minutes, but none of the fighters knew just now much time had gone by. They were angry, no beyond angry. Kun Lao had the key, and worst of all for Ranma he had to watch the bastard fell Akane up and was unable to do anything to stop him. The rage he felt fueled his moves and were mirrored by his sister, a product of an accident resulting form Washu's attempt to cure him of his curse.  
  
The twin chi blasts roared in everyone's ears, and the ground beneath them shook. Neither Ranma nor Ranko noticed anything was wrong until Akane let out a cry as the ground under her feet suddenly began to fall away. The pigtailed martial artist whirled around and flung himself in her direction catching her before she fell into the inky blackness below. As they landed on the ground, however, the floor of the catacomb gave way and the two fell in the darkness. Ranma heard Ranko cry out and had just enough time to see Tenchi leaping towards her. The sound of rocks falling and stones splitting open echoed throughout the darkness for several minutes. When it was over, Ranma slowly climbed to his feet. When he and Akane hit the ground below he had grabbed her and pulled her beneath him so he could take the brunt of the falling rocks.  
  
"RANMA! AKANE!" came a cry from far away. It was Tenchi.  
  
"DOWN HERE!" Ranma yelled back.  
  
"YOU SOUND LIKE YOU'RE FAR AWAY!"  
  
"I DON'T KNOW HOW FAR WE FELL!" Ranma shouted. "IS RANKO ALRIGHT?"  
  
"WE GOT SEPARATED, I DON'T KNOW!" Tenchi replied.  
  
"Damn!" Ranma spat. "CAN YOU GET TO THE TUNNEL THAT LEADS BACK TO THE SURFACE?"  
  
There was short pause then Tenchi yelled back, "YES, I SEE IT HERE. I CAN REACH IT IF I'M REALLY CAREFUL!"  
  
"GET TO THE SURFACE AND LET COLOGNE KNOW WHAT HAPPENED!" Ranma told him. "AKANE AND ME WILL TRY TO FIND A WAY OUT OF HERE AND SEE IF WE CAN TRACK DOWN RANKO!"  
  
"I'M NOT LEAVING YOU TWO DOWN THERE ALONE!" Tenchi shouted.  
  
"DON'T BE STUPID, THE FLOOR COULD GIVE OUT ANY SECOND, GET OUT OF HERE BEFORE YOU FALL IN TOO!" Ranma shouted at him.  
  
"WE'LL BE ALRIGHT!" Akane yelled after finally getting to her feet. "RANMA AND ME HAVE BEEN IN SPOTS LIKE THIS LOTS OF TIMES!"  
  
There was a short pause then Tenchi shouted, "ALRIGHT, BUT I'M BRINGING BACK HELP TO GET YOU TWO OUT OF THERE!"  
  
"Where the hell are we anyway?" Ranma said and generated a small blue chi ball to light up the area around them. The dim light revealed what looked like a cavern. Huge stalactites hung from the ceiling, where it had not collapsed, and stalagmites and hundreds of broken rocks littered the floor.  
  
"Here, it isn't much but this might be better to see with." Akane said as she handed Ranma a small flashlight. It was tiny, a key chain light actually. It was just a little brighter than his chi ball, and he did not have to expend valuable chi reserves keeping it lit also.  
  
"Thanks." Ranma smiled back at her, took her hand, and guided Akane over the difficult terrain of the cavern floor.  
  
Elsewhere in the darkness another figure stirred. She groaned as she lifted herself up causing rocks and dirt to fall away from her back. Ranko sat up and quickly checked herself for injuries. She had to do this by touch as there was no light wherever she was. Tentatively she climbed to her feet and reached out into the inky darkness in front of her and her hands touched hard, cold stone. Feeling around for a while she created a map in her mind of her immediate area. This was a stone wall, the wall of a cavern or small cave. She tried to remember what happened when the ground gave away beneath her brother and Akane. She remembered Tenchi yelled her name, the floor falling away beneath her, then she remembered the pain of hitting the ground. She also remember that as soon as she hit the ground she started to slide, she slid for a long time down a steep rock face, falling out into open space, and that was when her memories stopped and she found herself here.  
  
"Damn." she muttered. Her soft voice sounded very loud in the infinite quiet of the deep.  
  
Ranko suddenly remembered something she had picked up from the Tendo house before they left for China. She reached into her shirt, pulled out something that felt long and slender. Bending it slightly she heard a crack and shook it vigorously. A soft green glow penetrated the blackness around her. She did not know what possibly possessed her to take a glow stick out of the Tendo's typhoon emergency supplies, but she was thankful she had it on her. She had two more of them in her shirt if she needed them. The chemical lights only stayed glowing for just under a day, and she was not sure how long she was going to be down here.  
  
Far above, separated by thousands of tons of rock and earth, Tenchi slowly inched is way over a narrow ledge towards the tunnel that would lead to the surface. He breathed a sigh of relief when he finally reach more secure footing the made a quick dash through the catacomb towards the surface. He emerged into the light and found the village in total chaos. Buildings all around the statue of Ambrosia were burning, men and women ran about with buckets of water trying desperately to save their homes. The unmistakable sound of battle ran in his ears. Tenchi pulled himself up out of the hole and ran towards where the girls has last been before he, Ranma, Akane, and Ranko went into the catacombs. His run was halted with Ryoko literally tackled him to the ground and covered his face with kisses.  
  
"TENCHI!" she cried.  
  
"Where are the others, we gotta go back down!" Tenchi shouted. "Ranma, Akane, and Ranko fell, there was a cave in!"  
  
"WHAT!?" Ryoko gasped.  
  
"Kun Lao, he showed up, he's got the key!" Tenchi cried as he picked himself and help Ryoko to her feet. The two headed off at a dead run with Ryoko leading the way holding Tenchi's hand. She lead him to the house that was being used as a command center for the battle. Cologne looked up from the many maps of the region that were splayed out on a table before her as the two ran into the building.  
  
"Ah, I see you are finally back." she said.  
  
"Kun Lao has the key." Tenchi told her.  
  
"What!?" Cologne and a few other elders in the room gasped.  
  
"He attached us from behind, he had these creatures with him." Tenchi explained. "During the fight he got away with the key and then the floor fell away. Ranma and Akane are alright, but I couldn't get to them, and I don't know where Ranko is."  
  
"This is not good, the only other key in China is with the Musk Dynasty." Cologne said.  
  
"That is where he said he was going next." Tenchi told her.  
  
"Obviously he is having the trolls continue their attack to keep up from following him." one of the elders said angrily.  
  
"We must first get son-in-law and the others back, then we need to-" Cologne began but a loud cry of alarm from outside interrupted her. They all ran outside and watched with horror as dozens of Amazons leapt from a nearby section of the defensive wall. They all ran as fast as they could when they hit the ground. Among them were Ukyo, Mihoshi, Ayeka, and Mihoshi.  
  
"What is it!?" Cologne demanded of one of the fleeing warriors.  
  
"Gaal has come, he is smashing the wall!" the warrior cried.  
  
Suddenly a loud crashing sound hit their ears. The ground whipped around in time to see a massive spiked club penetrate the wall. It was easily the size of a bus. The timbers of the wall fell away to reveal a massive creature, it stood over four stories high, and it was clearly some sort of mountain troll only enormous in size.  
  
"GAAL CRUSH PUNY LITTLE GIRLS!!!!" the thing bellowed and swung its massive club. Dozens of warriors who rushed up to meet the thing were suddenly send skyward, their bodies soon rained down on the village.  
  
"HOLY SHIT!" Ryoko gasped gazing at the monster wide eyed.  
  
"FALL BACK, FALL BACK!!!" Cologne cried as the warrior women made a mad dash to retreat from the massive creature. The Amazons were a proud race, they were brave and would never run from a fight, but they were not stupid either. To throw themselves against this monster and die before they do anything to stop him was no way to die. Archers dashed up hastily erected ladders onto the roofs of buildings and began pelting the massive troll with flaming arrows. Gaal roared and began to smash everything within sight as the pain of the tiny arrows drove him into a mindless rage. Tenchi and the girls along with Cologne and a few others took up a position behind a large house some distance away. Kuno Hikaru came running out of the smoke a moment later, his katana stained with the blood of many fallen trolls.  
  
"Kami-sama, what a monster!" Tenchi gasped as he watched the carnage.  
  
"Lord Tenchi, what do we do?" Ayeka asked him in a pleading tone. She, Ryoko, and Mihoshi held onto him as if for dear life.  
  
"We can't go after Ranma honey with that thing ripping the Amazons a new one!" Ukyo shouted.  
  
"We have to stop him, we have to bring him down or it is the end of our people!" Cologne cried.  
  
"Then we bring him down!" Tenchi yelled standing up and igniting the blade of the Master Key.  
  
Ryoko pulled him back down with the rest of them. "There's no getting close to that thing as long as he has that club." she told him.  
  
"He has a weakness, but we must get close enough to exploit it." Kuno Hikaru explained to them. The resurrected Patriarch and Founder of the Kuno clan turned to Tenchi. "The beast's left knee was injured long ago in a battle with a dragon." he told him. "It has since healed, but the knee is now weakened and if hit in the right spot it will make the creature fall."  
  
"It our only shot!" Shampoo agreed with a nod.  
  
"Ok, lets get this over with." Tenchi said, his face was set in a mask of determination. "Ayeka, Ukyo, you two stay here and help protect the children from those trolls coming through the breach in the wall. Ryoko, Mihoshi, Shampoo and Hikaru you're with me."  
  
"If we die this day we die with honor, and as brothers!" Hikaru said grasping Tenchi's shoulder.  
  
"Let take this son of a bitch down!" Ryoko shouted and with that said the group surged forward. Shampoo cut loose with an ear piercing Amazon battle cry that was suddenly echoed by hundreds of her fellow Amazons. A wave of warrior women with weapons drawn rush forward with them. They were determined that this was to be either their last chance at victory for if they were defeated they would make certain that this day would never be forgotten.  
  
Oblivious to the carnage far above, Ranko heard nothing of the raging battle deep down in the darkness of the earth. The light of her glow stick did not penetrate the darkness very far ahead of her as she made her way through a narrow passage in the stone. She came to a extremely narrow opening at the end of the passage and had to slide through it on her back to make it through. Her ample bosom got in the way a few times, making her wish she had a smaller bra size. Finally she got through, then yelped as she lost her footing on the other side and fell into a cold pool of water. Ranko, now in male form, climbed up out of the frigid water shivering.  
  
"D-D-Damn that was c-c-c-cold." he said clutching himself for warmth.  
  
He made his way through what looked like a small cavern until he noticed a strange glow up ahead. Thinking it might be a way out to the surface Ranko sprinted forward. "Whoa." he gasped when he reached the source of the light and came to a dead stop. The scene before him was like something out of a science fiction movie. The light came out of a side passage connected to the cavern, this lead to another massive cavern that stretched off into the distance as far as Ranko could see. The walls of this massive hallow in the earth was covered with huge crystals the size of small cars, and each one gave off a soft blue glow. Among the huge crystals were smaller ones that could be held in the one's hand. Ranko touched one tentatively, when she did not receive a shock or was not burned she grasped the crystal and rocked it from side to side until its base cracked releasing it from the ground. The lower half of the crystal broke in such a way that it could be held like a torch or a sword without any danger of cutting his hand. The light it gave off was much brighter than the glow sticks.  
  
"Wow, I wonder what these things are." he said peering into the crystal and seeing cloudy motes of blue light dancing around within it.  
  
The cavern floor was difficult to maneuver, crystals littered the floor, many of them were razor sharp. The cavern, however, slopped upwards and that was the direction Ranko had to go. He tried staying to the sections less densely populated by the crystals and stayed clear of the massive ones. The sound her footsteps made sounded like wind chimes as her feet shook loose small crystals that slid down the cavern floor and bounced off the larger ones. Far ahead he could see what looked like a passage connected with the cavern, but it was in the roof of the cavern. Ranko decided to think about ways t get up to it when he got there and concentrated on making it there in one piece.  
  
Elsewhere in the deep of the earth Ranma and Akane wandered the dark subterranean passages of ancient China. There was very little sign of life down in these tunnels, the two spotted the bones of small creatures neither of them could identify, and the only sound came from their own footsteps. Akane clutched Ranma's arm as he shined the small key chain flashlight around to see their surroundings. The passage before them was narrowing, but at least it was starting to slope upwards.  
  
"That's gonna be a tight fit." Ranma said as he examined the passage.  
  
"This reminds me too much of Josendo." Akane said, her voice obviously showing her fear.  
  
"We'll get outta here, we just need to keep going up." Ranma reassured her.  
  
As the passage narrowed the two had to get on their hand and knees and crawl. The space was getting claustrophobic and Akane could feel the millions of tons of rock all around her as if it were closing in on her. The two continued and the passage became tighter. Just when Akane felt she could not go on without panicking she began to feel heat and the passage once again began to grow wider.  
  
"You smell that?" Ranma asked her as he sniffed the air.  
  
Akane sniffed the air and wrinkled her nose, "Smells like rotten eggs."  
  
"That's sulfur, we must be near a magma flow or something." Ranma said then lead the way through the passage. Indeed, it was widening and eventually opened up into a larger cavern. Akane gaped in wonder that the sight before her. A ledge large enough to walk on ringed the edge of the cavern, but much of the floor was a huge opening that fell away further than she could see. There was light from a huge flow of magma that fell into the abyss like a waterfall composed of molten rock. The heat was incredible but a welcome change from the bitter cold of the caves they'd been in over the past hour and a half.  
  
"We gotta be near the surface now." Ranma said. "I sorta remember there was a volcano in the area around the village."  
  
"I didn't know that." Akane said with surprise.  
  
"The guide said one of the mountains was a volcano back when me and pop first came here." Ranma explained.  
  
Akane followed the curving, narrow walkway along with the cavern's edge with her eyes and noticed the entrance to another tunnel. "Looks like the only way out is that way." she pointed.  
  
"I hope Ranko is ok." Ranma said, worry evident in his voice.  
  
"If she's anything like you Ranma she will be." Akane said to reassure him.  
  
The pigtailed redhead turned boy was at that moment using every curse and swear word that Ranma had ever learned from his ten years on the road with his father. He was cut and bruised from falling several times on the sharp and slippery crystals, and now that he was directly beneath the entrance to the sloping passage he found that it was very high. Extremely high actually, and Ranko was not sure if he was going to be able to reach it even with his superhuman jumping abilities.  
  
Ranko guessed the passage was at least up as high as ten stories, and he could easily jump up at least five. That was how high Furinken High School was and he remembered from Ranma's memories that he had been able to leap from the ground to the roof of the school. That had been before learning about his Juraian heritage. Ranko figured he since he was a biological copy of Ranma he might be able to tap into the same reserves of energy.  
  
The girl turned boy crouched down and began to focus all of his chi into his legs. To Ranko's surprise the crystal in his hand and many of the surrounding crystals began to dim, then he felt a massive surge of chi energy enter him. It was almost too much to handle until Ranko leapt upwards shooting like a rocket towards the passageway above. He had to catch himself with his free hand to keep from slamming into the roof of the passageway. Now that he was there, Ranko looked down at the crystals below and saw that they were beginning to return to their normal glow. The same went for the crystal in his hand.  
  
"That was weird." he said.  
  
Using the crystal as a light source, Ranko explored the new passageway. It sloped upwards for a long distance, turned at one point, and went upwards again at a steeper angle for what seemed to Ranko like several miles. A great deal of time went by and Ranko began to feel tired. He was hungry, what he wanted was one of Kasumi's wonderful dinners, and a nice soft bed. These caves and tunnels were cold, and Ranko, like Ranma, disliked the cold. It was too much of a reminder of Josenkyo. Making his way further Ranko began to notice a subtle change in the temperature of the passageway/ The further he went the warmer it got, not by much, but it was getting warmer. Not much further down the passage he started seeing stream seeping out of the cracks in the rock on the walls and floor.  
  
"There must be a hot spring here." he realized.  
  
Ranko contemplated either punching through the floor or using the Bakusai Tenketsu. He was definitely tired of being a boy, his normal female boy was lighter and faster. As he stood there thinking he immediately noticed a sound, for the first time a foreign noise came to his ears. The sound got louder and Ranko realized it was the sound of rocks exploding. His danger sense screamed and Ranko leapt to the side and the wall of the passageway burst open shooting out a shower of rock fragments.  
  
"Where the heck am I now?" came a voice out of the cloud of dust that billowed out of the hole.  
  
Geeze, it just had to be pig boy., Ranko groaned inwardly. "I see you're lost again." he said.  
  
"Wah? Ranma?" Ryoga turned to Ranko in surprise. Ranko saw the move coming from a mile away. He ducked just as Ryoga's umbrella swung where his head had been a moment before.  
  
"PREPARE TO DIE SAOTOME!" the Lost Boy cried.  
  
"Ryoga you blockhead I ain't who you think I am!" Ranko yelled at him.  
  
"No, your a dead man!" the infuriated Lost Boy cried.  
  
"You idiot, listen to me I'm not Ranma!" Ranko shouted as she leapt over the swing, springed off of Ryoga's shoulders and landed behind him.  
  
"Bakusai Tenketsu!" Ryoga cried jabbing his finger at the wall of the passageway. A spray of hot water shot into the passageway drenching Ranko from head to toe. Ryoga's eyes went wide with shock as he watched who he thought to be Ranma suddenly shrink in size and grow a pair of large breasts.  
  
"Now do you get it numb skull?" she asked him.  
  
What sufficed for brains in Ryoga's cranium suddenly started doing something they had not done in a long time; actually think things through. He stood there looking at Ranma, his female half to be more precise, being drenched with hot water from a spring he'd just busted into. Hold on, warm water, female Ranma, warm water, female Ranma., he repeated inside his head.  
  
"Ranma, how did you get your curse reversed?" Ryoga asked and Ranko facefaultered.  
  
"I AM NOT RANMA!" the irate redhead shouted when she got up.  
  
A hour later Ryoga sat in front of the redheaded martial artist with a look of wonder on his face. It had taken that long to get the idea into his head of solid granite who she really was. Of course, Ryoga remembered that Tenchi's extended family were not entirely human. The mentioning of a possible cure for his curse got his attention immediately, but Ranko made it clear the machine did not work. In fact, she was the result of the failed attempt to cure Ranma. She told the Lost Boy of the night she emerged from Ranma and the later decision to treat one another as brother and sister.  
  
"Incredible." Ryoga said softly still looking at the redhead before him.  
  
"Yeah, I've only been alive for a few days but I feel as if I've been here all the time." Ranko explained. "I remember everything my brother did up to that night. I got all of his skills and abilities, but I don't seem to have his Jurai power, at least I don't think I do."  
  
"But if you were born out of Ranma aren't you really a boy inside too?" Ryoga asked her.  
  
Ranko shook her head, "Nope, I'm mentally all girl. Washu says it has something to do with the fact that Ranma's curse form is female so that's why I'm a girl."  
  
"That's why your curse is revered." Ryoga realized.  
  
"Gee, you do have brains up there after all." Ranko smirked.  
  
"Hey." Ryoga protested.  
  
Ranko's expression soften considerable when she said, "I am glad you are here, I was getting pretty lonely down here."  
  
"How did you get down here?" Ryoga asked her. He sat and listened to the whole story. Shortly after his flight from the Tendo dojo in the aftermath of Akane discovering his dirty little secret major things began to happen. Ranko detailed the events at Furinken High School, the rape of Miss. Hinako, and the encounter with the demon. There was the resurrection of one of Kuno's ancestors who apparently had been sealed inside of a statue for hundreds of years, and the fact that Kasumi was his reincarnated lover. The redhead's mood changed when she began to tell Ryoga about Kun Lao and how he tied into several things that happened in Nerima. Ryoga listened intently to everything the girl said. When she got to telling the story of the siege at the village and what Kun Lao did to Akane in the tunnels the Lost Boy was getting visibly angry.  
  
"That's whee we stand right now." Ranko told him. "Kun Lao only needs a few more keys to open this Fountain of Ascension thing and he'll become a Kami."  
  
"Damn, this guy makes Herb and Saffron sound like Boy Scouts." Ryoga commented. "D-D-Did he really rape that teacher?" Ranko nodded.  
  
"Actually, he raped quite a few more people while he was in Nerima, and I really don't wanna think about how many more while he was moving across Japan." Ranko told him.  
  
Ryoga clenched his fist in rage, "Dammit, he like Happosai only a thousand times worse!"  
  
"No shit Sherlock." Ranko smirked at him.  
  
Several hundred feet above them in the realm of sunlight there were lots of things happening. Thousands of troll bodies littered the valley floor as the Amazons pushed their attackers back for the first time since the battle began that day. The coming victory was bittersweet for many of their own had fallen in the fighting. It was also a time of great sadness as well for one of the greatest warriors among them lay dying, her injuries too severe for the healers to treat. All they could do now was make her last moments as comfortable as possible. Shampoo sat next to her in a house that had been emptied for the care of the fallen warrior. The young Amazon's eyes were filled with tears as she looked down at the warrior's broken body struggling to breath.  
  
"Great grandmother, why?" Shampoo sobbed.  
  
The others stood just outside the house looking in. They had to give Shampoo this time alone with her great grandmother. The battle with Gaal had been the most terrifying few minutes of their lives. Many Amazon warriors were killed or seriously injured in the fight. It was a miracle that none of the group from Nerima were seriously hurt in the battle since they were right there at the forefront. Tenchi held Ayeka close as she cried softly into his chest. She had been the one to find the one who now lay dying. Ryoko rubbed the First Princess' back softly to reassure her. There were even tears in the eyes of the ex-space pirate's eyes. Tenchi let the events of the battle replay in his mind and he wondered if there was anything he could have done different to prevent this from happening.  
  
"GAAL CRUSH YOU!" the monster bellowed at the onrushing attackers on the ground below him.  
  
Ryoko was the first to reach the giant monster. She summoned her energy blade and made for Gaal's legs. She sensed something was wrong suddenly, threw herself to the ground, and felt the shockwave of air as the troll's giant club passed just inches above her.  
  
"Fuck!" Ryoko gasped as she launched herself skyward avoiding another near miss with that giant club. By this time the rest of the group had arrived. Ryoko heard and felt a shockwave from a blast and recognized it as one of Ayeka's. The unmistakable sound of Mihoshi's blaster filled the air too. On her way down in a dive attack Ryoko spied Tenchi and Hikaru running side by side around the giant troll. The two began hacking at the monster's right leg with their swords. Gaal bellowed in pain and stomped his foot at his two attackers. Tenchi and the samurai easily avoided the clumsy attack and ran back in to continue their assault.  
  
Ukyo and Shampoo both teamed up together side by side. They were both of the same mind that the creature could be taken down more easily if it did not have it's massive club. They of course directed their attacks at Gaal's weapon arm. Together the two leapt from a rooftop to the monster's shoulder. Razor sharp baker's peel cut into the flesh file a pair of bonbori maces tried to crush the massive bone beneath.  
  
"Look out!" Ukyo cried and leapt out of the way. Shampoo was not so luck as Gaal brought up his other arm and flicked her off with his hand. Shampoo screamed as she slammed into and through the wall of a nearby building.  
  
"You ok sugar?" Ukyo asked her after running to the young Amazon's aid.  
  
"Aiya! That really sting!" said Shampoo as she shook off the effects of the attack.  
  
"SHIT!" came a cry from outside and Ukyo dodged to the side before almost being plowed into by a Ryoko who came hurling through the hole in the wall.  
  
"Ooooo." Ryoko groaned as she pulled herself off the broken far wall of the now nearly ruined house. "That bastard is tougher than I thought."  
  
"I know, we could really use Ranma honey right now." said Ukyo.  
  
"Shampoo not let big stupid troll smash village!" the Amazon declared as she bounded away to rejoin the fight. Ukyo and Ryoko look at each other before leaping out of the hole to follow her.  
  
Dozens of Amazons lay injured and bleeding at Gaal's feet. Several warriors rushed in bravely to retrieve the ones how had fallen. The remaining warriors, several hundred, surged forward to meet the oncoming rush of trolls coming in through the breach in the defensive wall. Meanwhile, on a rooftop not far away a pair of scantily clad twins, one with white hair, and the other with black hair were standing together concentrating on forming a chi spell. Salt and Pepper, the Hentai Twins, began to glow with an intensity nearly as bright as the sun as the spell grew. A sound like thunder amplified a thousand times shook the ground as a blast of energy erupted form the twin's outstretched hands. It caught Gaal on the shoulder of his weapon arm. The sound of massive bones breaking resounded like an explosion across the village. Shampoo lay on the ground after once again being knocked off the monster's shoulder. She stood up staggering, her legs threatening to give out. The fatigue she had been feeling earlier was coming back but her desire to help defend her people was nearly as overwhelming as was her desire to lay down and let sleep take her. She did not see Gaal flail about in agony from the blast delivered by the Hentai Twins. The big monster's thrashed about in a blind rage fueled by intense pain and did not even notice that he let go of his club. The massive weapon went flying straight towards Shampoo who was completely oblivious to most of her surroundings.  
  
"SHAMPOO!" a piercing cry rang out. The young Amazon turned in time to see a small figure riding an old cane like a pogo stick blur into her view and push her with considerable force to one side. That was just an instant before the club hit. Shampoo watched in horror as the massive weapon plowed into the ground and several buildings taking her great grandmother with it.  
  
"GREAT GRANDMOTHER!" Shampoo screamed. It was too much, her body spend physically and emotionally the young Amazon collapsed to the ground where she stood. Ayeka has been running around to find a better vantage point on the battle to get a clear blast off at the monster when she heard the screams. The princess ran to Shampoo immediately checking her pulse, and with some effort picked the girl up in her arms. She was surprised to find that the lithe girl was actually quite heavy for her size as she carried Shampoo in her arms to one of the few houses that were still standing. A couple of Amazon healers saw her and ran up to her to take Shampoo. With her burden gone Ayeka ran towards the fallen club in search for Cologne. She climbed over the massive weapon and ran as fast as she could to the head of the club. As she came around the corner of a shattered house she stopped gasping in horror. The First Princess of Jurai put her hands to her mouth in utter shock.  
  
"Oh-Oh no!" she cried and sank to her knees.  
  
Oblivious to any of this Tenchi, Hikaru, Ukyo and the Amazon Lily assaulted the raging troll with everything they had. Out of the smoke that billowed all around came more Amazons. Ukyo recognized Lin Lin and Lung Lung and Perfume among them as they rushed towards the monsters with weapons stained with troll blood.  
  
Tenchi knew it was time to finish this fight once and for all. Nodding to the resurrected samurai the two leapt high and clashed at Gaal's weak stop. The bone in his knee gave a satisfying crunch as it broken, and with a snarl of rage and pain the big monster fell. The enraged Amazon women surged over the giant troll like army ants hungry for blood. Their rage was a physical force and there was nothing that could stand in their way. Within minutes the once nearly indestructible lord of the mountain trolls lay dead, a shredded corpse.  
  
"I sure do hope there was only one of him." Ryoko said as she staggered towards him and was caught in his arms when she stumbled forward.  
  
Tenchi, out of breath from the hectic battle just held her tight and hoped his own worn out legs could be enough to keep them both upright. That had been until he saw Ayeka running towards them, her face was as white as many of the snow capped mountains nearby. The expression on her face made Tenchi's blood run cold.  
  
"Lord Tenchi, anyone, come quickly!" she cried as she ran. "Its Cologne!"  
  
A mass of Amazons with Tenchi, Ryoko and Lily leading the way follow Ayeka to where Gaal's club fell. They looked at the sight before them and the warriors all gasped in shock. Lily turned to the warriors who had followed them and she had rears in her eyes. "Go, aid the others fighting off the remaining trolls, leave none alive!" she ordered them. Not one Amazon questioned her order, a smoldering raged ignited in each and every tear filled eye and then the group was running off to do battle. Lily turned her attention to the scene before her. Small sobs hitting her now, the proud Amazon warrior knelt down beside the broken body of her Matriarch. Cologne opened her one good eye and looked up at the woman, a smile cross her blood covered lips.  
  
"Shampoo, is she alright?" she asked in a raspy voice.  
  
"She is, you pushed her out of the way of the club." Ayeka said softly as she knelled down on the other side.  
  
"Good." Cologne said and her eyes closed. Her ragged breathing could still be heard as the Matriarch clung to what little life she had left.  
  
"Healers, we need Healers now!" Lily shouted into the air.  
  
"I fear it will not do any good, the Matriarch has seen her final battle." Kuno Hikaru said sadly then clasped his hands together and began to softly chant a prayer for a fallen warrior.  
  
"We lost so many of our Amazon sisters today." Lily sobbed into her hands, the terrible feeling of loss suddenly crashing down upon her.  
  
"This is all that bastard's fault, that kamidammed Kun Lao." Ryoko growled clenching her fist.  
  
That had been three hours ago. The battle was all but over, a few bands of Amazons scoured the valley looking for any remaining troll forces that did not flee into the relative safety of the mountains. The sun was already beginning to fall behind the mountains in the distance casting a shadow over the Amazon village. Everyone was spent, they had no strength left in them. Tenchi sat on the ground leaning against the house were Cologne lay in her death bed. Ayeka slept with her head in his lap and Ryoko rested beside him with her head on his shoulder. Mihoshi was curled up next to Ayeka fast asleep. Hearing a light footstep Tenchi looked up and saw the worried face of Kuonji Ukyo.  
  
"How you holding up sugar?" she asked him.  
  
"Shouldn't I be the one asking you that?" he replied with a half- hearted smile.  
  
"I'm a little worried about Ranma honey, but he's been in worse jams than this before." the okonomiyaki chef said and sat down in front of him.  
  
"Actually, I'm more worried about Shampoo." Ukyo admitted. "This is really tearing her apart."  
  
"I understand Cologne has been her only family since her mother died." said Tenchi.  
  
"That's gotta be rough." Ukyo sighed. "I guess me and Ranma honey weren't the only ones with a bad childhood."  
  
"Get some rest you look like you're about to fall over." Tenchi told her. Without any protest Ukyo scooted over next to where Ryoko leaned against the wall with Tenchi and as soon as her eyes closed she was fast asleep.  
  
Somewhere else in the mountainous country of China a pair of figures slowly climbed up out of a fissure in a large rock face. Ranma clambered out, holding a handhold he found in the rock, and helped Akane out with his his free hand. Akane had the common sense at the moment not to look down, or she would have seen that they were perched precariously on side of a huge cliff. After climbing out of the giant crack in the Earth, Akane climbed onto Ranma's back and clung to him for dear life. The pigtailed martial artist slowly climbed upwards using what hand holds he could find towards the top of the cliff which was not far away. After what seemed like an eternity the two reached the summit and collapsed together at the top.  
  
"Damn, I thought we'd never get out of those caves." Ranma groaned.  
  
"If I ever see a rock again it'll be too soon." Akane said as she snuggled up against the man she loved. Their moment of relaxation was short lived as an explosion echoed nearby. Ranma sat up and watched as two figures in the distance bounded back and forth leaping from rock to rock. As the two would meet midair the unmistakable sounds of fighting could be heard. One of the figures leapt and unleashed a series of blade like chi blasts which Ranma easily recognized. There was only one guess who that might be.  
  
Ranma sprang to his feet and helped Akane up. "Come on, Herb don't know it yet but he's gotten in over his head." he told her as they ran towards the two fighters.  
  
As they ran Akane noticed two severely battered looking figures laying in a nearby ravine. "Ranma!" she shouted and pointed at them.  
  
"Its Mint and Lime." he said and they bounded over the rocks towards the two fallen Musk warriors.  
  
"I-Its Ranma." Lime, the big warrior, said when he heard the voices.  
  
"A girl too, and she has breasts." said Mint, in contrast to his companion was much smaller.  
  
"Not this again." Akane sighed.  
  
"What happened?" Ranma asked the two.  
  
"A puny man came to Lord Herb's court demanded one of our secret relics, and our lord refused him." Mint said.  
  
"Then, the puny man attacked our lord with dark magic." Lime said, "We went to defend out lord but the man was too powerful."  
  
"Never have we fought one with such power." Lime added. "Lord Herb has been battling him for several hours now." Ranma stood up and look out over the edge of the ravine. In the distance he could see the two doing battle. Occasionally a chi blast would erupt from one or both. It was a titanic battle, one that brought back memories of his first confrontation with the Crown Prince of the Musk Dynasty.  
  
"Akane, stay here and see what you can do to help them." Ranma said as he leapt out of the ravine. "I'm gonna go help Herb."  
  
"Now wait one minute Ranma-" Akane began to say with the old familiar pissed off look on her face.  
  
"No you wait!" Ranma stopped her. "Your martial arts skills have really improved Akane, I'm proud of how far you've come, but this fight is totally out of your league so-please-stay-here."  
  
The angry expression on Akane's face softened as she said, "Be careful."  
  
"I will." he promised before bounding off to join the fight.  
  
Prince Herb, heir to the throne of the Musk Dynasty and dependent of dragons squared off against his latest foe. Never since his encounter with a certain pigtailed martial artist had he met a warrior of such immense power. This was in total contradiction with the warrior's appearance. He was a human adolescent, short, thinly built, someone whom Herb should have been able to break using only his little finger. However, the lanky young man appeared to be much stronger than he looked, and possessed a prowess with chi magic that was to be respected. It did not take the sharp witted Musk prince to put the pieces together and figure out who his attacker was. He came demanding the key to the Chamber of Ascension several hours before at the Musk fortress deep in the mountains. When he refused the young man struck with a powerful chi blast that nearly leveled the four thousand year old structure. Eventually the battle made its way out onto the boulder strewn countryside outside the Musk settlement. Herb watched with fascination and anticipation as his two most trusted bodyguards and friends were both defeated almost immediately by this warrior. The fight had raged on for several hours with neither side gaining any ground. Herb was just getting his second wind, this was one of the greatest battles he ever fought and he surged with pride in the knowledge that it would be going down in Musk history when it was all over. He had only one question on his mind though; how did the hated Kun Lao escape from his imprisonment? That was the only logical answer as to who this young human was and how he came to possess such immense power and a knowledge of the sacred key artifact.  
  
"You are very good Musk warrior, you honor your ancestors with your skill." Kun Lao said after alighting on a rock during a short respite in the fight.  
  
"Save your false compliments monster, I know who you are." Herb replied.  
  
"Indeed, so you know I cannot leave without what rightfully belongs to me." Kun Lao said and the battle was renewed. The two leapt at one another and exchanged punches at blinding speed in midair. They landed across from one another and repeated the attack. The chi sorcerer scored several punches on the Musk prince's chest and nearly sliced him with his bejeweled dagger. Herb landed hard on a rock across from Kun Lao and was about to move when a wave of chi energy shot out from the man's dagger. Herb knew he was not going to be fast enough to dodge the blast so he prepared to ride it out.  
  
"MOKO TAKABISHA!"  
  
A blue beam of chi energy slammed into Kun Lao's chi blast and erupted into a immense explosion that knocked the chi sorcerer and Herb off their feet. In the distance Akane heard the roar of the blast and Ranma's cry then watched as a mushroom cloud rose up in the distance then shielded her face as a shockwave suddenly hit throwing up loose rocks and dirt. She had been tearing off strips from the lining of her dress to use as dressing on the two Musk warrior's wounds.  
  
"By the gods!" Mint gasped, then winced as Akane applied pressure to one of his bigger cuts to stop the bleeding.  
  
"I hope Ranma is ok." she said with a little apprehension.  
  
Herb was quick to get back to his feet after the blast and fell into a ready stance. He recognized that chi attack, it had been used against him before, and he was not at all surprised to see the familiar pigtailed martial artist appear out of the smoke and dust. Kun Lao was back on his feet and looked at Ranma with a smirk on his face.  
  
"I was wondering how long it was going to take you to dig yourself out of those caves." he said.  
  
"Stuff it you piece of shit, I'm gonna royally plaster your ass for what you did to Akane!" Ranma shouted at him.  
  
"You assaulted his mate?" Herb asked looking from Ranma to Kun Lao. "That was the same mistake I made."  
  
"I understand from my subordinates that I owe a debt of honor to you Ranma for saving my life." Herb said turning to Ranma.  
  
"Lets setting that after we kick this guy's ass into the afterlife." Ranma said.  
  
Herb turned to the chi sorcerer and fell into a ready fighting stance. "Agreed!" he said with a smirk and the battle was on.  
  
_____  
  
"What was that?" Ukyo asked opening her eyes.  
  
In the far off distance came a sound that was like rolling thunder. Soon it was followed by another, and another. The Amazons who were going about the task of picking up the pieces of their village and tending to the wounded and the dead stopped in their work and looked in the direction of the sound. A loud blast echoed through the valley and mushroom cloud rose in the distance. She, Ryoko, Tenchi, Ayeka, and Mihoshi had been sleeping where they had collapsed earlier against the building where Cologne lay dying. None of the Amazons bothered them, they had all seen their fighting prowess and how furious they were in battle. Because of them many Amazons who would have died in this terrible day were alive to keep the traditions of the Amazon people alive.  
  
"Either the Chinese are doing nuclear tests again, or that was one mother of a chi blast." Ukyo commented.  
  
"That came from the direction of the Musk Dynasty territory." Lily said as she rushed past them.  
  
"That's gotta be that Herb guy Ranma told us about fighting Kun Lao." Ryoko said stretching painfully. "Man I'm sore."  
  
"Uh, I hurt in place I never knew I had." Mihoshi added.  
  
Another roar echoed down to the village and when everyone looked up they could see a massive tornado reaching high into the sky. Ukyo was on her feet in less then a second. "That must be Ranma honey!" she cried.  
  
"Did Ukyo say Ranma?" Shampoo asked as she left the house for the first time since Cologne was brought in. She looked in the distance and saw the tornado slowly breakup sending massive boulders flying in all directions.  
  
"Aiya! That airen alright!" she said.  
  
"He and Akane must have found a way out of the caves." Tenchi guessed.  
  
"But, what about Lady Ranko?" asked Ayeka.  
  
Tenchi climbed to his feet with a groan and began to go through the muscle loosening kata techniques his grandfather taught him. Within a few minutes he felt as if he was ready for another round of troll bashing. Another massive explosion in the distance drew their attention, this one larger than the last.  
  
"That must be one hell of a fight out there." Ukyo gasped in surprise.  
  
"All of you stay here, I'm going to see if Ranma needs help." Tenchi said and before the girls would protest he was gone leaving only a cloud of dust in his wake. Amazons in the field gathering the bodies of the fallen warriors looked up in surprise as a blur passed them followed by a shockwave of dust and loose soil.  
  
Several miles away and further up in the mountains Ranma and Herb helped each other up out of the crater Kun Lao put them in. If the area around them did not already look like a war zone it did now. The strewn boulders that had been on the mountainside were now shattered into pebbles, and ground pockmarked with huge smoldering craters. The pigtailed martial artist and the prince of the Musk fell into defensive stances as their mutual nemesis came out of the smoke with his deadly dagger leading the way.  
  
"He is far more formidable than our ancient writings say." Herb said before dodging Kun Lao's dagger.  
  
"Come now, I'm expecting much better than this." Kun Lao tauted them. "One of you is a descendant of dragons, and the other is the man who defeated Lord Saffron."  
  
"You are the one who bested the Phoenix King?" Herb asked Ranma in surprise.  
  
"Long story." Ranma told him.  
  
Ranma threw himself at Kun Lao firing off Amaguriken punches which the chi sorcerer defected with ease. It had all been a distraction as Ranma brought up his leg and cried, "Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken Revised, Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken Kick!" Kun Lao found himself being assaulted by five hundred punishing kicks in less then a second. As he flew through the air from the attack Herb made his move and executed his flying chi attack. Swirling razor sharp blasts of chi flew through the air threatening to slice the chi sorcerer to ribbons. A smile of satisfaction crossed Herb's face, but it suddenly changed to an expression of shock. The spinning chi blades stopped short of Kun Lao and instantly changed direction back towards their creator. Wide eyed with shock the Prince of the Musk dodged his own chi attack as Kun Lao alighted to the ground. He did not have any time to follow up with another attack against the Musk warrior as he had Ranma to suddenly contend with. Tapping into his Jurai power Ranma moved at a speed ten times greater than his normal speed and delivered a punch that actually created a shockwave in the air. Reacting with a speed that was superhuman Kun Lao focused a blast of chi to deflect the punch, or at least absorb most of the impact. The hit send the chi sorcerer staggering backwards but not so off balance that he was not unable to defect the series of secondary kicks and punches being thrown at him. Growing impatient with this fight and eager to get his hands on the key, Kun Lao decided it was time to put an end to this fight. Channeling energy into his bejeweled dagger and concentrating on the right spell combination Kun Lao prepared to make his move while at the same time dodging the deflecting Ranma's lightning fast attacks.  
  
Herb stumbled to his feet recovering from the costly move to avoid his own chi attack. Being ultra sensitive to the ebb and flow of chi energies he could feel the building of power within Kun Lao. He tried to shout a warning to Ranma but it was too late. Ranma was suddenly engulfed in a fiery burst of chi energy, many of the remaining boulders around them began to glow red from the intense heat of the blast. It looked for a moment as if the pigtailed martial artist was doomed when suddenly a figure appeared out of nowhere in a blur. A bright flash of white light erupted from the center of the fireball and three translucent, white wings of light unfolded from the center and outward in a "Y" shaped formation.  
  
"Light Hawk Wings!" Herb gasped with recognition of what he was seeing.  
  
Within the fireball Ranma looked over his shoulder at his cousin directly behind him. "Where you been?" he asked him.  
  
"I could have asked you the same thing." Tenchi said, the emblem of power on his forehead was shining as brightly as the three wings being emitted from his hands.  
  
"Don't tell me I missed most of the fun." Ranma smiled at him.  
  
"Actually something happened, but lets talk about that later." Tenchi told him and focused his attention on Kun Lao.  
  
The chi sorcerer was moving after unleashing his chi blast and moved on Prince Herb. The Musk royal unsheathed a scimitar from its scabbard and deflect a dagger sweep that would have cut his throat. The two exchanged blow after furious blow as they chased each other around the mountainside. Loosing even more patience Kun Lao slashed with his dagger and let loose with a chi spell. Razor sharp bursts of chi flew at Herb's feet and exploded opening the ground beneath him. The Musk prince stumbled backwards, fatigue from the battle finally starting to effect his movements. As he fell back something went flying out of his robes. He watched in horror as he realized it was the Key, he had been carrying it since the events happening in the Amazon village were discovered. The chi sorcerer caught it in his free hand and immediately secured it in his own robes.  
  
"Thank you for your cooperation." Kun Lao bowed to the fallen Musk prince. "All I need now is one more and I'll be the ruler of this world." He began to laugh not noticing the movement behind him. A figure clad in gleaming white robes with a white crystalline sword advanced on him with incredible speed. From another direction came Ranma glowing with a powerful red battle aura. The two came together to strike a deadly blow against their foe, but as their strikes neared their target it was suddenly gone. Tenchi pulled back on his swing with the Light Hawk Sword and only the tip hit the ground. An explosion erupted that tore across the mountainside and split open the mountain range for several hundred miles.  
  
"Dammit, come back and fight you son of a bitch!!!" Ranma cried into the air and shook his fist into the distance.  
  
"I can't believe this, he's harder to kill than a cockroach." Tenchi said as his Light Hawk Armor and Sword dematerialized.  
  
"You possess the power of the Light Hawk Wings." Prince Herb said looking at Tenchi with an expression of awe and reverence. "Yet, from your aura I can see you are not of the Kami."  
  
"You must be Prince Herb, I'm Masaki Tenchi, Ranma's cousin." Tenchi replied. Herb bowed to him then pulled himself out of the crater Kun Lao created beneath him with Ranma's assistance.  
  
"It appears we are now in a desperate situation." the Musk prince said. "The ancient and hated enemy of my people now possess one of the keys to the Chamber of Ascension."  
  
"We already know about it, and here's a newsflash," Ranma told him. "All he needs now is one more and he has them all."  
  
"WHAT!!!" Herb cried in shock.  
  
"RRRRAAAAANNNNNMMMMAAAA!!!!" came a shriek as something moved across the blasted mountainside with such a speed it was just a blur. Ranma braced himself for the impact as Akane threw her arms around him and held him with all her strength in a glomp that easily rivaled one of Shampoo's. Following her at a much slower pace came the two Musks Lime and Mint.  
  
"Lord, you are uninjured!" Lime cried out with relief.  
  
"In body I am unharmed, but my honor is another thing entirely." Herb said. "The vile monster Kun Lao will pay for what he has done."  
  
"What happened at the village while we were gone?" Ranma asked looking at his cousin.  
  
"Um, Ranma, Akane, I don't think you're going to like this." Tenchi began, a sad look on his face.  
  
_____  
  
The Nyanchiczu gasped in surprise as they watched the Crown Prince of the Musk Dynasty, Ranma, and Tenchi walked into the ruins of the Amazon village. Tenchi lead the way down the street which was partially cleared of troll and Amazon bodies. As they approached the house Ranma saw Ukyo, her clothing in tatters, run to him with her eyes filled with tears. Akane moved to the side to give her some space as the okonomiyaki cried in the pigtailed martial artist's arms. Tenchi met with his iinazuke and gave him a group hug. The only ones they did not see where Shampoo and Ranko.  
  
Ranma took Ukyo's shoulders and moved her to the side gently. She looked at him in surprise for a moment until she realized he was headed for the house were Shampoo sat next to her great grandmother's body. Hearing a footfall behind her Shampoo turn expecting to see one of the healers come to check to make sure the dying Matriarch was comfortable. When she saw Ranma the flood of tears came unabated and she flung herself into his arms.  
  
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." he told her, rocking her back and forth gently stroking her hair.  
  
"She pushed Shampoo out of way of danger, she gave her life for Shampoo." she said.  
  
"I should have been here to help." Ranma said hugging her closer.  
  
"Airen was trapped, Shampoo understand." Shampoo said and kissed him gently on the cheek.  
  
"He's got the key the Musk had." Ranma told her. "Tenchi and I had him, we had him, and he got away. The son of a bitch got away." He buried his face in her hair and she hear a soft sob from his lips.  
  
"Wo ei ni." Shampoo whispered softly drawing Ranma's head to her bosom and cradled him in her arms. "Wo ei ni."  
  
_____  
  
"We never saw Ranko down there." Akane said to the others who sat with her outside the house.  
  
"If she's anything like Ranma honey she'll show up any minute now." Ukyo said, but did not sound very confident in herself.  
  
"I hope she's ok, she was like born only a few days ago." Mihoshi said worriedly.  
  
Their collective thoughts went out to Ranma's accidental sister. They had not been given much time to get to know her that much. She appeared one night without warning and by morning she was declared as Ranma's sister. Her birth was a result of Washu's attempt to cure Ranma's curse, but all it did was separate him from his female half and leave the both of them still cursed.  
  
"Hey, where can a girl get a bite to eat around here?"  
  
Everyone looked up in surprise. There standing in the middle of the cobblestone street were two people, one a tall man wearing a heavy backpack and a tiger striped bandanna on his head, and the other was a beautiful redhead leaning against him with a very tired expression on her face.  
  
"RANKO!" they cried all at once. The two were suddenly surrounded by Tenchi and the girls. Ryoga swallowed hard when he saw Akane look at him for a moment. She walked up to him and to his utter surprise she hugged him.  
  
"Akane, I-I-I'm sorry." he said with an unsteady voice. "I lied to you, I deceived you, I know you love Ranma and I can't ever change that, but I'd still like to be your friend."  
  
Akane let him go and looked into his eyes. "I'll try Ryoga, I'm still angry about P-Chan, but you helped Ranko."  
  
"Uh, about that-" Ryoga started to say when Ranko covered his mouth with her hand.  
  
"We're taking things a day at a time." she said, a slight red blush on her face.  
  
"HUH! You gotta be kidding, you and that jackass." Ukyo said in disbelief.  
  
"Hey, you don't know what we went through down there." Ryoga said in protest.  
  
"You don't know what we went through up here." Ryoko told him.  
  
"Lets just say Ryoga and I, we had an interesting adventure down there, and we came to an understanding." Ranko said.  
  
"The spiders were the worst." Ryoga said.  
  
"No, I think the giant worms were the worse." Ranko said with a shudder.  
  
"Then we were crawling through this really tiny tunnel when suddenly the ground split open above us and we saw light." Ranko added. "All we had to do was climb and we were out. The whole mountain range looked like it was cracked open."  
  
"Oops." Tenchi said with a innocent grin.  
  
Their attention was drawn by several collective gasps from the Amazons around them. The group turned and saw Ranma and Shampoo walk out of the house hand in hand. In her hand, Shampoo carried her great grandmother's staff. They stopped in the middle of the street and all of the Nyanchiczu around dropped to their knees and bowed their heads. Many, many sobs could be heard around the village as the word was spread. A crowd began to gather in front of Shampoo and Ranma and they all went onto their knees.  
  
In Mandarin Chinese Shampoo spoke, "The Honored Matriarch has gone to her ancestors, may the gods of fallen warrior carry her spirit to heaven."  
  
"What's going on?" Ukyo asked in a whisper.  
  
Akane saw Ranma turn his head to look at her and she could see the grief written on his face and tears in his eyes.  
  
"Cologne is dead." she said.  
  
_____  
  
Shampoo stood tall and proud, yet inside she was torn. She did not want to be here, but it was now her place as her great grandmother's chosen heir. Her lithe and beautiful frame was draped in the ornate robes of an Elder. They were similar to the same clothing that Cologne had worn, her feet were bare so that the souls of her feet touched the earth. She was outside of the village on the grounds of the ancient Amazon burial grounds. It was here where the Amazons laid their dead to rest in the earth for three thousand years. Shampoo looked at her great grandmother, she looked so peaceful, so calm now as she lay upon her funeral pier. As was the tradition for all matriarchs, Cologne was to be cremated and her ashes spread over the land she took an oath to protect when she look up the mantle of leadership. Today, it was Shampoo's turn to keep the traditions of the Amazons alive and take up the mantle her great grandmother chose to pass on to her.  
  
The others were gathered there as well behind her at a respectful distance. Ayeka leaned against Tenchi's shoulder quietly crying. Ryoko stood behind the man she loved, her arms wrapped around his waist. Mihoshi stood beside Tenchi, and he reached out and put his free hand around her waist. Ranma held Ukyo and Akane close to him on either side, the two were in tears. Kuno Hikaru stood with Prince Herb both erect and at attention out of respect. Rouge, her arms and part of her face covered with bandages from her many wounds suffered during the fighting, stood with her nieces Salt and Pepper who were both dressed in attire that were much more appropriate to the occasion.  
  
Perfume solemnly walked towards Shampoo holding a bamboo torch in her hands, while her form which was every bit as beautiful as Shampoo's was draped in ceremonial robes. When she reached Shampoo, the soon to be matriarch turned to her and Perfume placed the torch in her hands. Shampoo slowly turned back towards her great grandmother and walked to the pier. She knelled down lowering her head and softly uttered a prayer for her great grandmother's soul, then slowly she stood and using the torch she began to light the dry reeds and straw of the pier. When the fire began to spread Shampoo placed the torch on her great grandmother's chest and stepped back to where Perfume stood. Lilac approached this time from the opposite side carrying Cologne's staff. Shampoo turned to her, tears streaking down her face. She could see tears in Lilac's face also. The proud Amazon warrior turned to her new matriarch, knelled down to one knee and raised the staff towards Shampoo. Struggling to stop the sobs that were threatening to come forth, Shampoo reached out and grasped the staff, then turned around to face everyone who was in attendance.  
  
"Let all who have bared witness here know that the mantle has been passed." Lilac said in Nihongo. "We send a sister on her way to the glory of heaven, out beloved matriarch. Today we send her to her ancestors, and today we bare witness to the passing of the mantle of leadership." Lilac turned to Shampoo and quickly dropped to her knees. Shampoo watched as everyone including Ranma, Tenchi, and the other girls did the same.  
  
"Long live Shampoo, Matriarch of the Nyanchiczu." Lilac said and the crowd began to repeat those words over and over again until their voice became a roar.  
  
_____  
  
The dawn the next day bore witness to an extraordinary sight in the skies above the Amazon village. A huge object hovered above the ruins of the once proud village looking to the Nyanchiczu like some great flying creature of the sea. Only thing was this creature appeared to be made of dark crystal with a huge red dome at its apex.  
  
All the newcomers from Nerima were gathered outside. Tenchi hugged a young looking woman with ankle length red hair after she mysteriously and magically appeared out of thin air. At least that is what it looked like from the perspective of the Amazons.  
  
"I'm really sorry to hear about Cologne." Washu said sadly to Shampoo.  
  
Shampoo, despite the breaking of her heart, smiled and said, "Thank you."  
  
"Exactly what are you doing here, mother?" Ryoko asked the young head head genius adding an interest inflection to the word "mother".  
  
Washu just smirked at her daughter then said, "Well, I determined something must have happened here in China." She looked over at Ranma and added, "You are pretty darn lucky, those huge chi blasts of yours set off NORAD early warning satellites. The United States and NATO went to full scale alert for a few hours, but I managed to hack into the computers systems and made it look like the satellite had malfunctioned and it didn't really detect anything."  
  
"Sorry about that, but it couldn't be helped." said Ranma.  
  
Washu turned her gaze back to Tenchi and slugged him in the arm playfully. "And you, watch where your putting that Light Hawk Sword. You split open a valley over four hundred miles long. That weapon has the power to slide stars in half." she said. Tenchi just grinned sheepishly and scratched the back his head.  
  
"Kun Lao has the both the Amazon's key and the Musk Dynasty's key." said Ukyo.  
  
"All he needs is the final key, and he will be able to open the Chamber of Ascension." Rouge said.  
  
"We know where it is." Pepper said as she and her sister joined the group.  
  
"Where!?" both Ranma and Tenchi asked at the same time.  
  
"On the grounds of 'his' descendent's home." Salt said pointing at Kuno Hikaru. Hikaru stood unmoving but did a Spock Maneuver with his eye brow.  
  
"You gotta be freakin kidding me, the Kuno place!" Ranma roared.  
  
"Airen, great grandmother say that one key was given to Kuno clan." Shampoo told him.  
  
"That is right, and it is a very special key." Rouge said. "Kun Lao may be able to locate it, but he will have a hard time possessing it."  
  
Ranma looked at her strangely and asked, "Why is that?"  
  
"Because the final key is a sacred artifact forged by the gods themselves." Prince Herb explained. "Only who is still pure may touch the final key."  
  
"That creep is not pure." said Akane.  
  
"You misunderstand him, what he means is only a 'virgin' may hold the final key." Rouge said.  
  
"Huh!?" everyone said at once.  
  
"A virgin, well we ain't go no problem there." Ranma said with a triumphant smirk. "That Kun Lao is no virgin."  
  
"But Kodachi is." said Akane and Ranma's face suddenly went pale.  
  
"Yes, Kun Lao can control the minds of women, all he would need to do is command a girl who is a virgin to take the key and hold it for him." Rouge explained.  
  
"Uh, I forgot he can do that." Tenchi said looking pale too.  
  
"Well, what the hell are you two jackasses doing standing around, lets get back to Nerima." Ukyo said.  
  
"Right, Ryo-Ohki!" Washu shouted. A loud "Miya!" issued from the sky making the hairs on the back of Ranma's neck stand up on end, then a light descended upon them.  
  
"What is this?" Herb asked looking at the light in wonder.  
  
"Just hang on for the ride." Ranko told him and she reached out and look Ryoga arm. Seconds later the Amazons looked on in astonishment as the group of people suddenly vanished and the great crystalline thing hanging in the sky race off towards the horizon.  
  
The situation was starting to get desperate. Kun Lao was getting stronger, and soon he was going to have the final key. Everyone on the Ryo- Ohki hoped that they would be able to reach Nerima in time to stop him. Meanwhile, across the Sea of Japan, on the main island, in the Tokyo ward of Nerima a young woman wearing a green gymnastics leotard did battle against the straw dummy dressed in Chinese clothes and sporting a red pigtail. Kuno Kodachi stopped her attack and stood in place twirling her ribbon in front of her. For some odd reason she could feel something was not right. She felt a sense of foreboding, like a dark cloud was descending up on her. Little did she know that a pair of malevolent eyes were watching her just at that moment. Kun Lao studied this luscious example of a young girl, he could feel her innocence from where he was hidden some distance away. There was nothing more he wanted more than to take this girl's virginity, but his immediate purpose won out. He needed her to get the key, after that he could do with her as he pleased. He prepared himself to make his move when he felt the approach of Tenchi, Ranma, and the others.  
  
"Oh, I see, you think you can stop me." Kun Lao said softly thinking out loud. "I think I'll wait until you all arrive, then we shall have some real fun. __________  
  
To be continued...  
  
Next time... Part 7: The Line Drawn in the Sand  
  
The worst has happened, Cologne has fallen and now Shampoo is the new Matriarch of the Nyanchiczu. Kun Lao has obtained the keys from the Amazons and the Musk. Ranma, Tenchi, their lady loves, the Hentai Twins, Kuno Hikaru and Prince Herb make for Japan. The final key is located on the grounds of the Kuno Estate and they are determined to stop the vile Chi Sorcerer once and for all. The epic final battle is close at hand but only if they make it in time. Meanwhile, a relationship between Ranko and Ryoga blossoms amids the chaos. This is by no means the final chapter...Stay tuned! 


	7. Part 7: The Line Drawn in the Sand

DISCLAIMER: "Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki" is a registered trademark and copyright of AIC Inc. and Pioneer. "Ranma 1/2" is a registered trademark and copyright of Rumiko Takahashi, Viz Communications and Kitty Productions.  
  
__________  
  
T E N C H I 1 / 2: FAMILY REUNION II  
  
By Michael "TheZorch" Haney  
  
__________  
  
Part 7: The Line Drawn in the Sand  
  
Shampoo leaned against Ranma's shoulder, tears still fresh in her eyes. All she wanted was to held in his arms and forget everything that had happened. The new Matriarch of the Chinese Amazons grieved for the one person who had been her only family for the years since her mother passed away was now gone. Her great grandmother, Cologne, the former matriarch of the Nyanchiczu. Everyone sat on the smooth floor of Ryo-Ohki's bridge, and everyone except for Prince Herb of the Musk Dynasty seemed overwhelmed by the sights and sounds of the place.  
  
"Amazing." the Musk prince said softly.  
  
"We'll make Tokyo in about five minutes." Washu informed everyone from the pilot's chair.  
  
"Drop us at the house, I wanna make sure everyone is alright before we hit the Kuno place." said Ranma. Washu nodded and turned back to the controls.  
  
"I too am worried, our other loved ones are unprotected and unprepared to deal with a threat such as Kun Lao." Kuno Hikaru said.  
  
"Sasami is with them at the Tendo place when I left to get you guys." Washu said. "If that creep attacks the house he'll have Tsunami to deal with, wherever Sasami is my sister isn't far away."  
  
"He seems even more powerful than what is in our ancient writings." Prince Herb said.  
  
"That is because he possess the other keys, they are amplifying his chi powers." Rouge explained to him. The Hentai Twins nodded in agreement.  
  
"If he gets the final key, he could possibly have enough power to create Light Hawk Wings." Pepper said and everyone in the room looked at her with shock.  
  
"No way." Tenchi breathed.  
  
"That would be like really bad." Mihoshi said as she cuddle up against Tenchi. The young first prince of Jurai put his arm around her to reassure her.  
  
"That would be worse than bad." Ryoko said.  
  
Ranma slapped his fist into this open palm and said, "I don't give a rat's ass how strong that bastard gets, he's going down for all the stuff he's done to us!"  
  
"He's even stronger than Saffron was." Akane said.  
  
Ranma looked at her and put his arm around her. "That creep went too far when he groped you right in front of us and we couldn't stop him." he said. "Then, his minions killed Cologne, slaughtered almost half of the Amazons, and who knows what else he's done."  
  
"He is an evil that must be stopped at all costs." Prince Herb said.  
  
"As far as we know he could already have that key." Ukyo said.  
  
"No, remember, only a virgin can touch it." Rouge reminded her.  
  
"Oh." Ukyo replied.  
  
Tenchi looked over at Rouge and said, "But, he could get Tatawaki's sister to get it for him."  
  
"That is sadly true." Rouge admitted.  
  
"Man, this whole mess is totally fucked up." Ranma sighed.  
  
"I really wish I knew this stuff was happening sooner, I would have helped." said Ryoga.  
  
"We're going to need that help if we're to prevent Kun Lao from possessing the final key." Hikaru said to him.  
  
"Alright we're just about home, everyone get ready." Washu announced and the everyone stood up and moved to the center of the bridge.  
  
"So, some of you come from the legendary empire in the stars, and Ranma and Tenchi are royalty by way of relation to your half-brother." Herb said turning to Ayeka.  
  
The princess nodded saying, "Yes, Lord Tenchi and Lord Ranma are members of the Juraian royal family line of success."  
  
"There is another, but his situation is a little different." Washu added.  
  
"You mean Seina, right?" Tenchi asked her.  
  
"Uh huh." Washu smiled and nodded.  
  
Young princess Sasami sat out in the back yard of the Tendo household and watched the koi in the pond. She wondered how the fish managed to survive all the times Ranma had been thrown into the pond in the past. That is if Mr. Saotome and Mr. Tendo's stories about the past were accurate or not. She picked up a small pebbled and flicked it out onto the water. A shadow suddenly fell over her and Sasami looked up but saw nothing. Her senses, keen due to her special relationship with Tsunami began to see the outline of a ship that was cloaked. She instantly recognized the the sharp angled shape in the sky and leapt to her feet before everyone materialized in the back yard.  
  
"Their home, everyone, Ranma and Tenchi are back!" she cried and ran as fast as her legs would carry her to her betrothed. Tenchi held out his arms to her and grabbed her up into a tight hug.  
  
"I was so scared for you and the others." Sasami said gripping Tenchi with all her might.  
  
"It ain't over yet, we lost." Ranma said.  
  
"Oh no." Sasami sighed in disappointment.  
  
"Hikaru!" came a cry from the house and Kasumi came running into the yard. The resurrected samurai caught her and twirled her around three times before drawing her close for a passionate kiss.  
  
Ranma looked at them and smiled then heard a sound next to him. He turned to see Nabiki looking at him. Her face seemed impassive at first, then it shifted to sadness, then tears formed in her eyes. Ranma did not wait for her to say anything or move, he reached out and took her in his arms. Nabiki buried her face in his chest and wept.  
  
Ryoga looked at Nabiki and shrugged, "They must be handing out parkas in hell right now."  
  
"What's that supposed to mean?" Akane asked her sharply.  
  
"Your normally cold as ice sister being all weepy and emotional." he said. "By the way, why is she hugging Ranma?"  
  
"Because, baka, they're engaged." Akane replied in an annoyed tone.  
  
Ryoga looked at her with confusion and said, "But, I thought you were his iinazuke."  
  
"I am." Akane replied.  
  
"So am I." said Ukyo.  
  
"Me too." added Shampoo.  
  
"And they're all official." Washu said.  
  
Ryoga looked like he was about to pass out. "All-official?"  
  
"I thought Ranko already explained this to you." Ranma said turned to him. "Because of my relation to my cousin Tenchi I'm a prince, and it turns out a member of the royal family of Jurai can have as many wives as they want."  
  
"Not too many, Ranma." Akane said dangerously.  
  
Ranko waved her hand in front of the Lost Boy's face but there was no response. "Oh man, looks like P-Chan's gone bye bye." she said.  
  
"Oh my, I'll go make him a bed." Kasumi said and hurried to the house.  
  
"I'm taking the girls to the dojo, they need to concentrate on divining the accurate location of the key and where Kun Lao may likely be." Rouge said as she lead her scantly clad nieces towards the dojo.  
  
Tenchi turned to Ranma and asked, "Shouldn't we stake out the Kuno mansion or something like that?"  
  
"Haste in this situation is prudent." Herb nodded. "Waiting about puts our enemy closer to his goal."  
  
"Throwing yourself into a situation you know nothing about is also an easy way to get killed." Rouge replied from the dojo entrance.  
  
"I hate to admit it guys, but she's got a point." said Ranma. "He knows we're gonna be after him so there is no telling what he might have waiting for us."  
  
Kuno Hikaru stepped forward and said, "At least allow me to go there and make a quick observation. Those people are my kin, as sad as it seems."  
  
"I'll go with him." Ranko said stepping next to the Musk prince.  
  
"Yeah, I'm sure Kuno would love for his pig-tailed girl to make a visit." Ukyo said.  
  
Ranko laughed, "Why do you think I'm going, if Kuno gets in the way I can draw him away from Hikaru."  
  
"You be careful sis, ok." Ranma said to her.  
  
"Hey, I can handle Kuno." Ranko said.  
  
"No, I think he wants you to handle him." Akane said with a smile. "Of course you might make Ryoga jealous."  
  
Ranko's face suddenly turned bright red. "Wha, huh, now there ain't nothing going on between me and Ryoga." the red head said defensively.  
  
"It sure didn't looked that way to us sugar a little while away ago at the village." Ukyo replied.  
  
"Well nothing happened, we just came to an understand is all." Ranko said, her face still red. "That kiss didn't count." When she suddenly realized what she said she clamped her hands over her mouth and she turned extra bright candy apple red from the shoulders up.  
  
"Kiss? What kiss?" everyone asked at once.  
  
"Oh I've got to hear this one." said Nabiki showing that old "Mistress of All Gossip" gleam in her eye.  
  
"Me and my big fat mouth." Ranko sighed.  
  
_____  
  
Sometime later two figures moved swiftly over the rooftops of Nerima. Ranko and Hikaru ran side by side, leaping from roof to roof as they made their way to the Kuno mansion. Having Ranma's memories, Ranko was able to lead the way easily, and within minutes the pair reached the outer wall of the Kuno estate.  
  
"Much as changed in many hundreds of years." Hikaru said as he looked at the wall. "Where are the guard towers, the second defensive wall, and the main palace?"  
  
"Oh, that's right you guys were official samurai back then." Ranko said. "I dunno what happened to all that stuff. This place looks the same as when Ranma went there for the first time."  
  
"Let us move with stealth and look about for my descendants." Hikaru said before he leapt across the way and bounded silently into the trees beyond the wall.  
  
The two looked around at their surroundings. Ranko recognized the private hot spring that the Kuno family had in their yard. She could see the rising steam on the other side of a stand of bushes. The faint sweet scent of flowers wafted on the wind in the opposite direction, so Ranko guessed that was where Kodachi grew her trademark black roses. This meant that the pond where Mr. Green Turtle lived was not far away. Ranko endeavored to stay clear of that area. Muffled voice could be heard beyond the hot spring where Tatawaki had a small training area. Ranko's keen hearing picked up the baritone wannabe samurai's voice and higher pitched voice of his toady, Sasuke.  
  
"Sounds like Kuno's chewing out Sasuke about something." she said.  
  
"Who?" asked Hikaru.  
  
"Sasuke, their man servant, a pitiful little ninja guy with almost no self-esteem." she told him. "He's practically their slave but no matter how badly they treat him he still stays with them."  
  
"A ninja, I wonder if he is related to the family indentured to our clan many years ago before my battle with Kun Lao." the samurai pondered. "They were practitioners of the dark ninja arts."  
  
After wandering about for a little while they came to the hot springs. A memory came to the mind of the samurai, he remember bathing in this same spring. A lot had changed, if the spring was there then that meant where the main house was proper was where the palace had once been. A splash of water drew his attention and he looked into the clouds of steam and noticed a figure standing halfway out of the water. A gust of wind blew the steam away revealing a vision of loveliness bathing herself, her wet, bare breasts gleamed bright in the sunlight. The samurai full back behind the cover of the bushes, a jet of blood shooting from his nose.  
  
"Wow." Ranko whispered out loud as she looked at the girl in the pool. "Kodachi had a really nice pair on her, I wonder why Ranma never noticed how huge she was."  
  
"Uh-ah-oh-geh!" was all the samurai could say as he held his nose.  
  
"Don't worry, I won't mention this to Kasumi." Ranko smirked.  
  
The samurai bowed his head, "Arigato-gozaimas!"  
  
Ranko looked back out over the pool and scowled, "He can't be far, if he is here I just know he can't resist peeping at her. The creep is worse than Happosai."  
  
"Speaking of the ancient perverted master, where is he?" Kuno Hikaru asked. Ranko looked at him with a shrug and turned back to her observations. Kodachi was going to be Kuno Lao's likely target. As far as Ranko knew the girl was still a virgin, and only a virgin would touch the key.  
  
_____  
  
The hunter slowly stalked towards his prey, moving slowly inch by inch, making little or no noise as he walked. He could see his prey, it knelt behind a tree, invisible except to those who had the talent to see. The hunter was talented in many unique techniques and abilities. Right now every fiber of his being was focused on following his target, his prey, and ignoring what was out in the warm waters of the hot spring just a short distance away. The naked form of Kodachi was a wonderful distraction for the hunter, but his rage overpowered his desire to run over and fondle those beautiful globes of flesh. All he could see in his mind's eye was a little girl in a hospital bed crying, her clothes in tatters. Walking away was the boy who had been Gosunkugi Hikaru, he looked at the girl with a smirk, zipped up his pants and, left the room. The vision, completely made up in his own perverted mind, enraged him even more. The one now known as Kun Lao was going to pay for hurting his darling little Hinako, he was going to make him pay even if it meant giving up his life. If the old perverted master, Happosai, had any morals at all, he felt them when that little girl was concerned. To him Ms. Hinako was still the little girl he knew from the hospital years ago, the little girl he taught the Ultimate Anything Goes Health Technique to.  
  
Little did the tiny, perverted master of the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts know but he was about to do something that would redeem him of all of his past crimes in the eye of all who knew him.  
  
_____  
  
Akane and the rest of Ranma's harem, that was what they started to think of themselves as, watched their mutual love interest pace back and forth in frustration. He did not like this waiting around, but they had to wait for Ranko and Hikaru to come back from scouting out the Kuno place. A long, exasperating hour later Ranma threw up his arms and headed outside to go to the Kuno place himself when Hikaru and Ranko came flying over the wall to alight in the yard.  
  
"He's there, we didn't see him, but he's definitely gotta be there." said Ranko.  
  
"How do you know?" asked Ranma.  
  
"Kodachi was bathing in the hot spring." she told him. "If he's around he would definitely be watching her. That is what Happosai would be doing, and those two are almost like twins."  
  
"I would say the perverted master is the lesser of the two evils." the samurai commented.  
  
"But he's still evil." Ranko said.  
  
"Amen to that sugar." said Ukyo as she and rest of Ranma's harem came out of the house to join them.  
  
"Where was Kuno baby?" Nabiki inquired.  
  
Ranko shrugged, "Chewing Sasuke out for one reason or another as usual."  
  
"I am a bit disturbed that Kun Lao has not taken any action yet." said Hikaru. His worried expression was mirrored on the faces around him.  
  
"Lets ask Rouge if the girls found the key yet." Ranma went straight to the dojo and slowly slid open one of the doors. He squeezed his nose to keep from dying from blood loss as his eyes too in the sight of the Hentai Twins engaged in an elaborate chi magic ritual. They were both completely naked, and both girls could have easily been a match for Shampoo in the looks department. Rouge noticed him and rolled her eyes.  
  
"They haven't found it yet, give it time." she told him, pushed him out of the door with little effort and close the door. Ranma stood there for a few seconds before collapsing backwards.  
  
_____  
  
The ancient Chi Sorcerer could hardly contain himself. He had to keep reminding himself that he needed a virgin to get the final key, and he could only mind control a girl to do it. Watching Kodachi give herself a sensual bath in the hot spring and then pleasure herself with various vibrating tools all the while crying out the name of her beloved "Ranma" was driving him insane with desire. He needed released and he needed it now or he was going to ruin his won plans. The Chi Sorcerer, still cloaked from view, or so he thought, left the Kuno compound on a hunt. He did not notice the tiny figure following close behind him.  
  
His search did not take long. He saw her, and a stray memory from the boy who's body he inhabited gave him her name. Yuka was her name. She was not as beautiful as the Kuno girl by any stretch of the imagination, but she was still a girl and from her aura he could tell she was still a virgin too. The young girl was one of the friends of Ranma's women, Akane, if he remembered right from the jumble of memories inherited from Gosunkugi Hikaru. How ironic it was, he thought to himself as he approached her unseen and stretched out with his thoughts towards the girl. She was in her house, her parents were out and she was along wearing only just a pair of panties and a bra in her bedroom. She was lounging on her bed reading a romance manga that was also little ecchi. Kun Lao felt his mind touch hers and he planted several thoughts into her mind. He let his cloak fall away and Yuka looked up at him. A lustful look came to her face as she climbed out of bed. She crawled on all fours towards the Chi Sorcerer and reached up to pull down the zipper on his pants.  
  
From the roof of the house next door the ancient perverted master watched as the young girl's head bobbed up and down. He felt a combination of envy and rage at what he was watching. Envy that he could not have that kind of control over girls, and rage that Kun Lao was spoiling the purity of another innocent virgin. Not that he would do the same thing, but it was the principle of the thing in the old pervert's mind.  
  
Happosai nearly broke his pipe in half when the girl tore off her panties and impaled herself on the ancient chi sorcerer who lay on the door with his pants down. She bucked up and down, the sound of her cries reaching out as far as where Happosai was watching. Was this what he did to little Hinako, the old pervert had to wonder. The thought of his second greatest pupil harmed by that monster disgusted him, or disgusted as his own twisted sensibilities would allow him to be.  
  
Kun Lao did what he usually did, he left the girl completely unaware of what happened and completely without any evidence of what happened. Any evidence of her having been taken advantage of was the musky smell of sex in the air, and the torn hymen inside the girl's body that would not be noticed until a doctor's examination a few weeks later. The ancient Chi Sorcerer was on his way back to the Kuno compound when he found his path blocked.  
  
"Well, well, I was wondering when 'you' were going to show up and challenge me." he folded his arms and looked at the ancient master.  
  
"There is only room for one uber-pervert in this world, and its gonna be me." said Happosai. "I'm gonna take revenge for my little Hinako."  
  
"Hinako, you mean that delightful school teacher." Kun Lao said nonchalantly. "Oh she was something else, a real screamer, I had to use a chi spell to dampen the sound to keep anyone from hearing. I understand I have to thank for her ability to attain adult form. She was quite good, very tight, and those breasts are to die for."  
  
"Die, that is exactly what you'll do." Happosai snarled.  
  
"That sex-changing martial artist and his cousin could not kill me, what makes you think you can?" the chi sorcerer asked.  
  
"Simple." the ancient master said and withdrew something he had been holding behind his back. Kun Lao looked at it and started to laugh.  
  
"So, you stole that from the Amazons I take it, and you think you can kill me with it." he laughed.  
  
Happosai hefted the object and said, "There is only one way to kill an immortal." With that he focused his immense chi reserves and launched himself into an attack.  
  
_____  
  
The war council was gathered in the tea room. Kasumi and Sasami flitted in and out of the kitchen bringing tea and food for the others who were sitting around the table. A holographic display of the Kuno mansion hung in the air before them. Washu typed on her computer keyboard at a speed that rivaled Ranma's amaguriken technique. The Hentai Twins, now dressed, or semi-dressed as they usually did were seated together with Rouge. The older, beautiful Amazon was there more to keep the two amorous twins in check than anything else. Both Ranma and Tenchi's harems noticed the two giving both Tenchi and Ranma hungry stares. Akane put her arm around Ranma's shoulder and shot the twins an expression that screamed, "MINE!" Ryoko and Ayeka did the same thing with Tenchi. Neither men minded it all anymore, not ever having sex with all of their girls at one time before. Well, not all, Sasami was technically Tenchi's iinazuke, but he was not going to try anything more intimate than innocent hugs and kisses until she was older or assimilated with Tsunami. Prince Herb remained silent the entire time as he watched the display with fascination.  
  
"Ok, the twins say the key is here." Washu hit a few keys and a pinpoint of light appeared below the Kuno compound directly beneath the alligator pool.  
  
"Figures it would have to be there." Ranma muttered.  
  
"That small pond, like the spring, has been on the grounds of the Kuno clan for generations." said Hikaru. "The pond was used by our sword smiths when they cooled the blades they made for us."  
  
Nabiki's eyebrow shot up, "Your clan had your own sword smiths."  
  
The samurai nodded, "Some of the best in the province, many other clans in the area came to use to buy our blades."  
  
"Now Kodachi uses it to keep her pet alligator." Akane spoke up.  
  
"Where is Steve Erwin when you need him." muttered Ukyo.  
  
Washu tapped some keys and the image zoomed in on the pond. "Ok, listen up, the key is in a box buried about a meter below the bottom of the lake." she told them. "That means whoever goes in after it will be digging in mud for a while."  
  
"Which means not only do we need to keep Kun Lao busy, but we also have to get that damn Mr. Green Turtle out of the way." said Ranko.  
  
"I remember seeing that thing, its huge." Ryoga commented.  
  
"I already thought of a way to get rid of him, Ryoko will draw it away with a turkey attached to a rope-" Washu began.  
  
"I'm not gonna be a decoy for an alligator the size of a Zensa Beast!" the cyan haired beauty snarled at her. A small statuette feel out of subspace above her head and shattered at it knocked her cold.  
  
"As I was saying, Ryoko was draw the animal away while Ranma and Tenchi go in and get the key out." Washu continued.  
  
"Ite!" Ryoko groaned as she rubbed her head and sat up.  
  
"Only virgins can hold the key, why us?" asked Tenchi.  
  
"Its in a box, so you'll be able to hold it them." Washu explained. "The key is useless to Kun Lao as long as he can't get to the key itself, being in a box he can't utilize it unless he has someone use it for him who 'is' a virgin."  
  
The two cousins nodded in understanding. "So that means pretty much all of us are out when it comes to really touching it." said Akane with a blush.  
  
"Well, except for Sasami and Kasumi that is." Washu added also blushing.  
  
"Uh, you 'are' still a virgin, right sugar?" Ukyo asked the oldest Tendo sister. Kasumi blushed furiously and nodded lightly. Kuno Hikaru also blushed a bit when his beautiful reincarnated love interest look at him.  
  
"There is one other." Herb added with a deep blush, the group nodded.  
  
"Kun Lao is only interested in girls he can use, or take advantage of," said Washu. "So Sasami will be safe, at least I hope." She turned to Hikaru and asked him, "Uh, he isn't a pedophile is he?"  
  
"You mean does he take sexual pleasure out of young children?" he replied and Washu nodded. A disgusted look came over the samurai's face.  
  
"I never saw, but I have heard rumors." he said.  
  
Ayeka immediately grabbed Sasami into her arms protectively. "He wouldn't!"  
  
"All I heard were rumors, that is all." Hikaru said again.  
  
"I heard the same rumors as well." Herb added.  
  
"Rumors part true." Shampoo said, speaking up for the first time since they arrived home. "Amazons have many ancient stories about perverted chi sorcerer, he do it if he think it help get more power or influence over enemy. There be story of lord's young daughter he kidnap to force man to obey, he send warrior against Kun Lao, he punished lord by send daughter back home....defiled."  
  
"Ok, he is way worse than Happosai." Ranko threw up her hands.  
  
It was at that moment they heard the explosion in the distance. Everyone rushed outside and watched as a column of energy rose into the air into the heavens and back down again. The resulting blast shattered windows for miles. Debris could be seen flying up into the air all around where the blast billowed out like a bubble up from the ground.  
  
"A chi spell, and a powerful one too!" Salt shouted.  
  
"What the hell, why?" Ranma glanced out watching the blast diminish into the distance.  
  
"I feel something else, its chi, but its different." Pepper commented.  
  
"Its chi created from, from perversion." Salt added.  
  
"Happosai!" everyone said at once.  
  
"I wondered where the old freak went while we was fighting for our lives." Ranma snarled.  
  
"Probably saving innocent Amazon underwear from the trolls." said Tenchi. Everyone nodded in mutual agreement, they all knew the ancient perverted master well.  
  
"Shampoo wish great grandmother here she know what to do." the blue haired Amazon said leaning against Ranma. He put his arm around her shoulder to comfort her.  
  
"Lets go see what happened!" Ryoga shouted and leapt over the wall in the act wrong direction. Ranko leapt after him, turned him and point the other way. "Oh!" he blushed furiously and followed her. The rest of the group, the combatants of the group that is, leapt over the wall and took to the rooftops chasing after them. Herb was about to join them when he heard his name shouted by Washu. It took just a little time to cross Nerima via rooftop and reach the scene of the devastation. Smoke was still rising out of a huge crater in the ground where several houses once stood.  
  
Ryoko whistled, "Who or whatever he was fighting, its fried now."  
  
"It looks like four or five houses were vaporized." said Tenchi.  
  
"I hope body was at home when this happened." Ayeka gasped.  
  
"Oh Kami-sama!" Akane cried. "Yuka's house was here!" She leapt down into the crater and raced towards where her best friend's house was or had been. The structure was only half gone and bits of it were burning. The others joined her as she leapt up into what was left of the house and waited. Ranma ran in after her and they did not emerge for a short while. Ranma appeared carrying a girl wrapped in a blanket over his shoulder with Akane at his side.  
  
"She's out, but still breathing." he said.  
  
"I'll get her to the house Ranma honey." Ukyo offered and took the young girl into her arms and ran off toward the Tendo dojo.  
  
"Hey, I found Happosai!" came Tenchi's voice from deeper inside the crater. The others came running and looked down at the blacked little body at Tenchi's feet.  
  
"He's-He's-" Akane stammered.  
  
"Extra crispy." said Ranma as he touched the little pervert's hand and it instantly crumbled to ashes.  
  
"Whoa, the power if must have taken to kill that old goat." Ryoga said realizing the true immensity of their situation for the first time. It made him shiver a little with fear.  
  
Rouge sifted in the dirt and withdrew something gleaming. She held it up and the Hentai Twins gasped as they recognized it. "The old fool, he killed himself!" she said.  
  
"What is that?" Ryoko asked, looking at the object in question. It was wand made of gleaming gold and topped by a half-moon piece and studded with blue gemstones.  
  
"The Wand of Power." she said softly. "How in the name of all that is holy did he get his little hands on it."  
  
"Aiya!" Shampoo gasped instantly recognizing the name. "He very stupid if think that work."  
  
"What is the Wand of Power?" Tenchi asked.  
  
"An artifact of the Kami given to us as a gift by our goddess." Salt explained. "It is said to be able to do anything, in the right hands. But, in the hands of a man it can be a disastrous weapon."  
  
"He was really angry at Kun Lao for raping Ms. Hinako." said Akane.  
  
"Likely he focused all of his power into the wand, the fool!" Rouge let her arm drop and looked at the crumbling remains of the perverted master.  
  
"In other words, when trying to kill Kun Lao he got caught up in his own attack." said Ryoko. The Hentai Twins nodded in confirmation.  
  
"Who would have ever guessed the old pervert would have gone out fighting to take revenge for somebody." Ranma shook his head.  
  
"I do not see another body," Hikaru interrupted. "Kun Lao must have survived."  
  
"Shit!" Ranma growled. At that moment Ukyo came flying back down into the crater from a nearby rooftop. A large crowd had already begun to gather at the end of the destruction and sirens could be heard in the distance.  
  
"The blast was heard all the way as far as Shabuya." Ukyo told them. "They were watching the news back at the dojo when I got Yuka there."  
  
"Lets go before the cops get here and start asking too many questions." said Ryoko.  
  
"Yeah, they don't need to get caught up in this, no more blood needs to be shed because of that creep." Ranma nodded and they all followed him as the lead the way to the Kuno estate. The trip was short, the Kuno home was not far away via rooftop travel. Ryoko and Ayeka flew over the grounds of the Kuno estate, the princess of Jurai garbed in her battle gear. It was the same she used in the battle with Kagato years before, and Ryoko had morphed into her black and red battle suit. With a twirl of his ring Tenchi was suddenly engulfed in a bright light and emerged donning his own battle suit.  
  
"I need one of those." Ranma commented looking his cousin up and down noticing how it showed of the boy's slight build. The girls got a good look too and tried to envision Ranma in one of those tight fitting suits. The thought made their hearts race.  
  
"Cretin! How dare you invade the home of Kuno Tatawaki!" came a cry from the side. By instinct Ranma leaned to the side as the wooden blade of a bokken narrowly missed his head. The pigtailed martial artist leaned backwards, placed his palms on the ground, and kicked up with his feet. The result caused the insane Kendoist to go flying with a yell. The boy hit head first on the ground but quickly recovered to a sitting position with is bokken at the ready.  
  
"Fair Akane and the Pigtailed Girl!" Kuno spied his two favorite people in the ground and raced to their side. The two were pressed against one another in a powerful hug from the wannabe samurai. "You have come to confess your love to me at last!"  
  
WHAM! Two feminine legs sent the boy flying again, this time across the entire estate grounds. "Jerk." the two girls said at the same time, they looked at one another, Akane and Ranko, then giggled.  
  
Hikaru put his hand on his face and shook his head, "I cannot believe that buffoon is my kin."  
  
Ranma patted him on the shoulder, "My sympathies man."  
  
"Ok, where is Kun Lao?" asked Tenchi.  
  
"Anywhere Kodachi is likely." said Ukyo.  
  
"Remember, she is of no use to him if he takes her virginity." Rouge reminded them.  
  
"Its not like he couldn't grab any other virgin." Ranma muttered.  
  
A survey of the grounds found little of any sign of Kodachi anywhere. The group split up at the hot spring. Ranma with Akane and Shampoo, Ryoga with Ranko and Ukyo, Rouge with the Hentai Twins, and Tenchi with Ryoko and Ayeka made up the final group. Kuno Hikaru elected to go by himself. Ranma's group arrived at Mr. Green Turtle's pond first, the water stirred slightly as the giant alligator moved just below the surface of the murky water.  
  
"Washu wants me to go in there?" Ranma looked at the water with an expression of dread.  
  
"I wonder where Kodachi is." said Akane. Ranma shrugged.  
  
"Crazy rose girl be anywhere, unless Kun Lao make her look for key." Shampoo guessed.  
  
Ranma looked over at the nearest building, it was the portion of the Kuno home dedicated to entertaining guests. Like the rest of the Kuno home, it was huge with many vast rooms, and probably full of all sorts of secrets. Their previous adventures into the Kuno mansion revealed a great deal about the place.  
  
"Lets check the house." he said.  
  
_____  
  
Ranko remember everything Ranma knew about the Kuno mansion, and she did not like what she remembered. All of the memories were of nefarious traps placed all around the place by Sasuke, the Kuno family retainer and doormat. She found herself having to lead Ryoga around by the hand, or else he would end up getting lost the first time he decides to turn a corner. After that he could end up anywhere in the world for that matter. She wondered what the weather in Timbuktu was like this time of year and thought with a shudder that Ryoga would probably know the answer..  
  
The Kuno place was very big, and it was also like a maze. That was because it was built to confuse enemies who invaded the home during the feudal era. Today the defenses would matter little and would only stop all but the most determined of opponents. There opponents were not armed with ancient Amazon techniques. Ryoga demonstrated one of them as he leveled a wall with one finger that was blocking their way. Beyond that they found more corridors.  
  
"How big is this place anyway." said Ukyo.  
  
"The last time I, I mean Ranma was here, he was lost for a good while." said Ranko.  
  
"I know the feeling." Ryoga said with a sigh.  
  
_____  
  
Tenchi and his two companions opened a sliding door and found themselves inside of a huge gymnasium. It was as large as the gym Furinken High School. The room was littered with Kendo and Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics gear. There were rows of training dummies, all decorated to look like Ranma of course. On the other side were large pictures of Ranko and Akane with huge gashes cut into them. Tenchi realized it was done with the ribbon that lay on the floor in from of the two defiled portraits.  
  
"Geeze, and thought you two were obsessed." said Tenchi. The girls said nothing and just squeezed his hands as they stood on either side of him.  
  
"Doesn't look she's around here." Ryoko said looking around.  
  
"I wonder if the twins are having better luck?" Ayeka wondered out loud.  
  
_____  
  
Rouge wondered what Kami in heaven loved making her life so insane with such relatives as those two girls. She loved them dearly but sometimes they really pushed her to the limit. They were searching the house proper, looking for any sign of the girl in the green leotard. They had not seen any sign of her or the others for a long time since splitting up. The search was going at a good clip until they reached what could only be described as Kodachi's bedroom was found, and their finely tuned senses told the girls there was a secret compartment in one wall. Upon opening it the girls were greeted by the most beautiful sight they had ever seen. A wall full of all manner of sex toys, dildos, ribbed dildos, vibrators, and all sorts of things they had never seen before. So, now Rouge was stewing in her own juices outside of that same bedroom waiting while the muffled cries of ecstasy from the twins echoed down the hall.  
  
She held a small vibrator in her hand and flipped it over and over again in her hands. Those girls, the worst enemy of the Joketsuzoku is out and about and they're masturbating., she grumbled to herself. Salt's scream as she orgasmed rolled down the hallway like a clap of thunder. Rouge found that she was having a hard time concentrating as the sounds were starting to get to her. She felt the familiar burning down below and growled in frustration.  
  
"Damn it!" she snarled, powered on the vibrator, and nearly fell out of her chair when she pressed it between her legs.  
  
The twins came out of the bedroom, both were literally glowing with energy and stopped at the sight of their aunt writhing in the throws of a violent orgasm on the floor.  
  
"Welcome to the horny side Rouge." Pepper smiled down at her.  
  
_____  
  
Kuno Hikaru held his hand to his katana sword as he skulked around the vast expanse of the Kuno ancestral home. He knew the lay of the land, and though it had been changed form time to time much of the place reminded unchanged. He guessed as to where Kun Lao might look for the key, the old cellar. He knew where it was. It did not take long to find the entrance which was now hidden behind a false wall. The stairs were made of stone and descended into the depths below the Kuno mansion. He followed the stairs and stopped when he heard a voice. It was a woman's voice and it could only be one person. He went further and looked around a corner. There she was donning her trademark green leotard. There had been some modifications made to it though which allowed her ample bosom to show in its full glory. Kun Lao, in the body of the young boy Gosunkugi Hikaru was standing next to her.  
  
"I don't feel it anywhere here, so there more to his cellar?" he asked.  
  
Kodachi pointed straight ahead, "There are three more chambers like this one straight ahead. All of them are for storing wine."  
  
"The key must be down here." Kun Lao snarled and went further into the cellar's depths. Hikaru followed keeping to a certain distance taking silent, stealthy steps. After going through the rest of the cellar Kun Lao made several gestures with his hands forming runes in the air. Nothing happened and he let his hands fall down at his sides.  
  
"Damn!" the chi sorcerer hissed.  
  
"There MUST be more!" he shouted at the girl and she cringed away from him in terror.  
  
"There is no more, master!" Kodachi cried out in terror.  
  
"If I did not need you with your innocence intact I would take you now and let you savor the humiliation in full." Kun Lao spat then turned around on his heels and headed for the exit. It was at that moment, in the dim light cast by Kodachi's flashlight that the chi sorcerer was the glint of steel.  
  
"Let her go." Hikaru demanded and pointed the tip of his blade towards the chi sorcerer.  
  
"Did not take you long to make it back from China." Kun Lao said casually. "How did you like the trolls? I trust that gave you and your friends an interesting work out."  
  
"Release her mind and face me!" Hikaru demanded.  
  
The chi sorcerer look over at the half naked girl he had control over. "She is a kin of yours I believe." he said.  
  
"The Joketsuzoku suffered greatly because of you!" Kuno Hikaru spat.  
  
"Well, isn't that a pity." said Kun Lao. "I seem to recall a great deal of suffering when you trapped me inside of that Soul Prison for seven hundred years!"  
  
"There is a difference, I was trapping a monster." Hikaru replied, his voice like venom.  
  
"One man's monster is another man's savior." Kun Lao smirked evilly. "Besides those Chinese bitches deserved what they received trying to keep me from taking what is rightfully mine. It is sat so many luscious creatures had to meet their end before I had a chance to sample them myself, but such is life."  
  
"You are as insane as when I first met you." the samurai scowled.  
  
"And you are as morbid and gloomy, really don't you ever smile?" Kun Lao asked with a smile.  
  
"Only when my blade tastes your blood!" Hikaru cried as lunged. He blinked when his blade cut through thin air where Kun Lao had been a second before. The chamber was dark now, even Kodachi was gone.  
  
"I don't have time for these games, when I am done with the Chamber of Ascension then I'll be glad to play with you." he heard the chi sorcerer's voice coming from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. "Until then, feel free to play with this."  
  
The ground at the samurai's feet suddenly began to split open. Hikaru jumped over the widening rift and ran for the exit. He heard a sound behind him and watched as a vision of sheer horror on eight legs climbed out of the tear in the earth. The thing was huge, resembling a great spider with long black hairs hanging off of its body. The thing had a head that looked almost human save for its six eyes, and the long sharp fang in its mouth. Two of the legs were thick human-like arms, one of those arms held a huge war hammer.  
  
"KUSO!" he snarled as he turned to face the spider demon.  
  
_____  
  
The groups were finished searching the Kuno estate and found nothing. Everyone was gathered once again at the alligator pond. Ayeka and Ryoko both strained as they projected their forcefields to hold a huge and abnormally large alligator high in the air out of reach. Ranma and Tenchi swam about in the water, they went down for a long moment only to return to the surface for air and then went back down again. The remainder of the group acted as guards watching for an attack from any direction. They of course knew they would be of little use at all in a one-on-one fight with Kun Lao, and being girls they were especially vulnerable. Kuno Tatawaki stood watching all of this with rapt attention. Akane was doing her best to explain things to the boy, and was doing only a so so job of it. He was not trying to interfere at least. If what Akane was telling him was true an evil had come to the Kuno residence to corrupt his sister and force her to use a magic item hidden on their grounds for some nefarious scheme.  
  
"Akane can really put one over on Kuno." said Ukyo.  
  
"As long as stick boy not attack Ranma, Shampoo happy." the Amazon said as she kept a sharp out.  
  
"We found something!" Ranma shouted before going below the waters again. Kuno nearly wanted to pass out when he saw two of his beloved pigtailed girls. Akane did not even bother to try and explain that one as it was tried before and Kuno did not get the point.  
  
"About time, its been at least two hours since we got here." Ukyo sighed.  
"And no sign of that Ko-whatshername." Ryoko muttered.  
  
"Kodachi." the others chimed in.  
  
"Got it!" Tenchi yelled as he and a very well and female Ranma climbed out of the pond. They held between them a large chest that was caked in wet mud. The princess and the former space pirate heaved a sigh of relief as they released the alligator back into the water.  
  
"Cool, lets get this thing out of-" Ryoko began.  
  
A blast knocked her and everyone else off their feet. Rouge and the Twins looked up to Kun Lao smirking at them as he approached the chest, waved his hand, and the chest opened of its own accord. A half-naked girl in a modified free leotard walked up, her eyes vacant, and reach into the box. She came out with the final key to the Chamber of Ascension.  
  
"You fucking bastard." Ranma spat as she rolled Ryoko body off of him. He charged up with chi and Jurai energy and lunged towards the chi sorcerer. She leapt over Kodachi's head and tried to drop kick the sorcerer but he deflected the blow easily. Ranma managed to land on her feet with ease and charged up a chi blast. Her Moko Takabisha sizzled with immense energy catching Kun Lao square in the chest. He was knocked off his feet and several yards away from Kodachi. The girl in the leotard did not move or flinch an inch.  
  
"Not bad." Kun Lao said as he stood up. He looked at Ranma and licked his lips. "When this is over I'm going to enjoy having you. It would be the perfect punishment for one such as you."  
  
"Touch me or anyone in my family and you die." Ranma snarled at him.  
  
"As if you could kill me, you tried your best in China." Kun Lao said with a smirk. "And it wasn't nearly enough."  
  
The ground suddenly heaved under their feet and then began to split open. A figure leapt out of the crack in the earth holding a gleaming sword. Behind the figure climbed out a nightmarish creature. It had several missing legs and was covered in oozing wounds. It stepped forward once climbing to the surface then collapsed forward and gasped its last breath. Hikaru, looking a worse for wear but still on his feet ran around the body of the monster to stand beside Ranma. He was quickly joined by Tenchi who had the Master Key out and ignited. Ranma could feel rather than see the rest of the group coming up behind them getting ready to fight.  
  
"Cretin, foul sorcerer, release my sister!" Kuno cried out in righteous fury.  
  
"You have nowhere to run." Hikaru said.  
  
"I intend to go nowhere without the key." Kun Lao snarled with rage. He raised his hand and concentrated chi into his jeweled dagger. The Hentai Twins recognized the move immediately and began to make runic symbols in the air around them. A bolt of lightning shot from the sky towards Ranma and the others, but as it reached them it struck an invisible force field.  
  
"As they said, you go nowhere." came a new voice. Everyone turned to see Prince Herb of the Musk Dynasty alight to the ground in the yard and draw his sword. Beside him Ayeka recognized her two guardians Azaka and Kamadake hovering in place.  
  
"Interesting." the chi sorcerer said quietly.  
  
"THIS END NOW!" Shampoo as she lunged into battle. Ranma joined her and soon it was a mad rush against one opponent.  
  
The fight was like none ever seen in Nerima before. The entire Nerima Wrecking Crew plus some new friends against an opponent who looked like Gosunkugi Hikaru. It would have looked comical if not for the fact that the NWC were loosing the fight. The skill Kun Lao possessed rival that of Ranma himself, and it became evident to everyone that he was perhaps Ranma's equal when it came to fighting. Hikaru, the founder of the Kuno clan, was having a hard time of it himself but was holding his own. Eventually the girls found that they had to fall back. Akane collapsed with Ukyo following behind, and Shampoo could not go on. Ayeka joined them a few minutes later but Ryoko stayed in the fight along with Ranko. Between them and Prince Herb the ground around the Kuno estate was being torn to shreds in short order.  
  
"Aiya, he really really good." Shampoo said panting as she watched the others frantically fighting the one solitary enemy.  
  
"No shit sugar, and I thought Ranma honey was good." Ukyo groaned as she rubbed a pain in her side.  
  
Several thunderous blasts of chi later Ranma and the others went flying over head screaming. Kun Lao was glowing with immense power, and standing as if nothing was happening.  
  
"Shit, he's really strong." Ryoko groaned as she picked herself up off the ground.  
  
"Its those keys he has." Rouge commented.  
  
RANMA!" Akane screamed as Ranma ran forward and tackled Kodachi to the ground. She made a grab for the key the girl was holding and it suddenly shocked her hands. She dropped the key and looked at the blackened skin where the key touched her. Kodachi picked the key up again and just stood there. Ranma grabbed her free hand and pulled her along with her, to her surprise Kodachi did not protest and allowed herself to be guided.  
  
"Hold him off!" she yelled at the others. Kun Lao tried to follow but he suddenly found Herb, Ryoga, Hikaru, and Tenchi blocking his path. Ranma ran with Kodachi into the house and was followed closely by a few of the girls. The rest of them, Ayeka and Ryoko, stayed to help hold off the chi sorcerer.  
  
"Now what?" asked Ukyo.  
  
Ranma shook her head, "I have no idea."  
  
Akane looked at Kodachi for a moment then at Ranma. She waved for Shampoo and Ukyo to follow her out of the room. Ranma watched them go with a puzzled expression for moment. They did not take long though. Ukyo and Shampoo both had pale expression and Akane's was grim determination. They looked at Ranma then at Kodachi and a mutual decision seemed to be reached silently between the three of them.  
  
"He can only use her if she's a virgin." said Akane.  
  
"Yeah, that's what Rouge said." said Ranma.  
  
"Is true, if no virgin he no can use." Shampoo nodded.  
  
"We know that." replied Ranma.  
  
Ukyo rolled her eyes. Ranma could be so dense sometimes. She left the room for a few seconds and returned with a steaming kettle. She poured the water over the redhead and she immediately shifted back to male form.  
  
"What we're trying to say Ranma honey is if she isn't a virgin he can't use her to help him anymore." she said.  
  
"Ok." Ranma just looked at her.  
  
Akane pushed open the door to another room and started pushed him and Kodachi towards it. "So hurry up!" she shouted at him.  
  
"Huh!?" he looked at her with surprise.  
  
"Make fast, Shampoo think friends loosing fight." the Amazon said as she watched the battle outside.  
  
"Wha!?" Ranma's mouth hung open, he just did not understand at all.  
  
"Ranma no baka!" Akane screamed. "If she isn't a virgin anymore he can't use her!"  
  
Recognition came to the boy's eyes and they went wide with shock. "N-N-Now wait a minute!" he protested.  
  
"Ya better hurry Ranma honey, its getting ugly out there." said Ukyo as an explosion shattered what was left of the building's windows. A series of battle cries could be heard outside, most of them were male. A figure flew past an open window, it was Tenchi shrouded in the Light Hawk Armor.  
  
"No, I can't-"  
  
"They can't hold him off forever!" Akane shouted at him.  
  
Ranma yelled back, "I can see it in your eyes that you don't really want me to do this, I can't do it. I won't hurt you, any of you, I- I-I love you too much!"  
  
The three girls knew just how much Ranma loved them, they all three gave him their virginity willingly, but to here what he said was a wonderful reminded of just how deep his feelings went. The three turned from the scene of the desperate fight outside and looked him in the eye. Again, a mutual, unspoken decision seemed to be reached and they all nodded in unison. Working as one, the three girls pushed Ranma and Kodachi into the next room and closed the door behind them.  
  
Outside the battle was not going well. The fatigue from fighting the trolls at the Amazon village was starting to have a major effect on a few of them. Ayeka and Ryoko could hardly move. They slumped up against the well of the guest house panting to catch their breath. They were both badly bruised, burned, cut, and lacerated in several places. Ryoko looked up when she heard a shout and watched Kuno Hikaru lunge in towards Kun Lao again with his sword leading the way. The katana blade was outlined by an aura of chi energy being generated by the samurai himself. The light was, however, flickering which demonstrated the fact that he was near exhaustion and his rage was all that was keeping him going. Tenchi was still in the fight, he had called upon the Light Hawk Wings, but even with the power to shatter whole worlds in his hands he was having trouble with the chi sorcerer. Ryoga was in the fight as well, his umbrella had since been incinerated during the fighting so he had to rely on his body and his seemingly infinite supply of bandannas. Ranko was with him fighting at his side, but the fatigue was plain on her face and she looked like she was about to fall over at any moment. Rouge sat on the ground nearby tending to the Hentai Twins. The two scantly clad Amazons were taken out of the fight early by the chi sorcerer. Kuno Tatawaki also lay unconscious on the ground, he did not last very long at all, even less than the twins did. Prince Herb was fairing as well as the other men were, his face was set with enraged determination as he waited his turn to take on the chi sorcerer. Kun Lao himself was showing signs of slowing down himself, his left cheek was slashed by Hikaru's sword sometime during the battle, much of his clothing was wrecked, and he was covered in sweat.  
  
If he can kick our asses in that condition, how much more powerful will he get if he gets that damn key from us?, Ryoko pondered in horror.  
  
"I WILL HAVE THAT KEY!!!!" Kun Lao screamed with insane rage as he deflected Hikaru's sword with his dagger. His other hand shot forward and blasted the samurai with a burst of chi energy. The samurai went flying towards the guest house and smashed through the door.  
  
"You-You will n-n-never possess it." Hikaru said as he literally crawled on all fours out of the house.  
  
"Son-of-a-bitch, this guy is tougher than Ranma when he's 'really' pissed off." Ryoga muttered while nursing a huge bruise on his arm.  
  
"There is a difference between this creature and Ranma." said Herb.  
  
"What's that?" asked Ranko.  
  
"Ranma fights with honor!" Herb launched himself at the chi sorcerer firing off razor sharp blasts of chi energy. Kun Lao deflected each attack with his dagger and side stepped out of the way of Herb's flying kick. The Musk prince swept at the chi sorcerer's head with his sword only to have it stopped by that same dagger a mere two inches from hitting flesh.  
  
"Dragon bastard!" Kun Lao spat at the man.  
  
"Insults do not become you, oni." the Musk prince replied with a smirk. Herb yelped as he was suddenly buffeted by powerful waves of energy. He flew through the air, flipped twice, and alighted to the ground next to where Ayeka and Ryoko stood trying to recover.  
  
"My turn I guess." Tenchi shrugged and he flew in with the Light Hawk Sword at the ready. Kun Lao met him, and to Tenchi's shock his dagger blocked the planet splitting blade of his holy weapon. A seemingly ordinary dagger stopped a blade that had once killed a goddess!  
  
"What the-" Tenchi was too surprised for words.  
  
"The Light Hawk Sword, I am impressed, but even it cannot cut through an artifact of the gods." Kun Lao smirked at him.  
  
"Nani!?" Rouge and Herb both shouted at the same time.  
  
"Do you think I fight with a mere ordinary dagger, this is the jeweled dagger once held in the hands of Hades himself!" the chi sorcerer shouted. "It was forced in the heat of the pit of damnation itself, the power of the Light Hawk Wings cannot hard it!"  
  
"A demonic artifact, I should have known better." Rouge said cursing herself for not realizing something like this earlier.  
  
"It also means that this dagger possesses certain unique abilities." Kun Lao smiled as the jewels on the dagger flared as bright as the sun. Tenchi raised an arm to shield his eyes and he cried out in shock and pain. A force more powerful than anything he ever felt before pushed him away, and he lost his control over the power he was born with.  
  
"TENCHI!" Ryoko cried as the young Juraian prince hit the ground with a sickening thud, his Light Hawk Sword and Armor long since faded away.  
  
"FOOLS, YOU CANNOT STOP ME, NO MORTAL CAN STOP ME!!!" Kun Lao started towards the house determined to find Kodachi and his key, but he suddenly noticed after the fighting was finally over that he no longer had control over the girl. He could sense her ahead of him, he could feel the power of the key there was well, but there was something odd. A set of doors inside the house opened to reveal Ranma and the others. Kodachi, looking very dazed, clung to Ranma tightly to keep from falling over. He held her upright in a firm but gentle grasp. The other girls, Akane, Shampoo, and Ukyo stood with him in various combat stances. They knew they did not stand a chance against the chi sorcerer, but they were going to stand beside the man they loved and if need be they would die at his side.  
  
Kun Lao looked at them, he noticed that Kodachi no longer carried the key, then he looked at her aura.  
  
"NO!!!" he cried in rage.  
  
"You can't use her anymore, only a virgin can hold the final key." Ranma said in an even, hostile voice. "Even if you were to get another we'd have it away from here and so far out of your reach it would take you a million years to find it again."  
  
"Do you think this will stop me?" the chi sorcerer laughed.  
  
"No, but I bet it sure does cheese you off, so close to your goal, but you just can't seem to get with it." Ranma laughed back.  
  
Kun Lao looked down at the ground and sighed, "I see, I finally realize I have no choice." Ranma just smiled.  
  
"I MUST KILL YOU ALL!!!!" the chi sorcerer suddenly manifested a battle aura that would have made Happosai proud.  
  
"Take her!" Ranma cried gently tossing Kodachi to Akane who caught her in he arms. The pigtailed martial artist met the chi sorcerer in battle just as he manifested his own battle aura. The who posing energies war against one another and exploded with tremendous force. Everyone cried out and covered their faces to block out the blinding light of the blast. Akane looked up when the light had finally faded and found herself witnessing a battle right out of that Dragonball anime series. Kun Lao and Ranma were in the air flying around exchanging chi blasts, punches, and kicks. Fatigue finally got the better of Kun Lao and one of Ranma's amaguriken punches got through. Laced with a bit of Jurai power the punch was like the blow of a pneumatic hammer topped with a hydrogen bomb. The chi sorcerer cried out as he felt ribs crack and he flew towards the ground at an incredible speed. He reached out with his power and stopped himself just before impacting the surface of the pond.  
  
"Very-good." he said wiping blood from the corner of his mouth.  
  
"I'm just getting warmed up." Ranma floated down towards him and cracked his knuckles.  
  
"I am going to have fun kill you-aarrrghhhh!" Kun Lao/s voice became a gurgle as the massive maw of Kodachi's pet alligator clamped down. The giant reptile threw itself out of the water and bit, hard. Its long fangs pieced Kun Lao's chest, tearing open huge wounds in his lungs. Within seconds the chi sorcerer's lungs were filled with blood. The boy that had been Gosunkugi looked upon the world with lifeless eyes as he was dragged below the surface of the pond. The water churned as the alligator went into a death roll.  
  
"I think I love that damn alligator." said Ranma.  
  
"That's it, its over, just like that." Ukyo said in surprise.  
  
"An appropriate death for one such as he." Herb frowned.  
  
"Get-away, beware!" Hikaru shouted as he struggled to his feet.  
  
"Huh?" Ranma turned to look at the samurai. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up on end. He could feel something evil looking at him. Ranma wiped around falling into a fighting stance as a shapeless thing came up out of the water.  
  
"Its Kun Lao!" Rouge cried. "The body may be mortal, but his spirit isn't!"  
  
"Dammit, I knew it was too easy." Ranko fell in beside her brother mimicking his fighting stance. A pair of yellow, malevolent eyes stared at them from within the cloud of darkness floating over the pond. Suddenly it shot forward, Ranma and Ranko leapt out of the way to either side avoiding the thing. The creature made a straight course towards-  
  
"Brother!" Kodachi cried out as she suddenly snapped out of her daze.  
  
"FUCK!" Ranma and Ranko cried as they watched the thing that was Kun Lao's evil spirit slowly enter Kuno's body through his mouth and nose. A few seconds later Kuno's body rose into the air floating horizontally in the air, then slowly it tilted into an upright position. Tatawaki's eyes opened, but they were not his eyes anymore. Where there had been blind arrogance there was now unadulterated malice and malevolence.  
  
"B-Brother?" Kodachi tried to go to her bother but Akane held her tight.  
  
"He's not Tatawaki anymore!" she yelled at the girl. "Look at his eyes!"  
  
The thing had had been Kuno Tatawaki held out his hand. There was a huge splash from the pond and everyone look to see Mr. Green Turtle fly up out of the water. A shower of blood flew from the animal's stomach as something began to cut its way out of the creature from the inside. A few seconds later, the same amount of time it took for the alligator to fall back down into the water, the bejeweled dagger shot out trailing blood and entrails. Kuno caught the bloodied dagger in his hand and smiled at the blood soaked his hand.  
  
"Do you understand now, you can never defeat me, if you kill me you kill only the shell." Kun Lao said, only now he spoke in Kuno's voice.  
  
"YOU FUCKING BASTARD!" Ranma screamed and threw himself at Kun Lao. The chi sorcerer deflected blow after blow as if he did not even need to try. Ranma was shimmering with a bright battle aura fueled by his rage and disgust of the horrible creature. With the dagger in one hand an a chi aura shrouded bokken in the other, Kun Lao overpowered Ranma quickly and sent him flying against the wall of the house.  
  
"RANMA!" Akane, Shampoo, Ukyo and Kodachi cried out at the same time.  
  
"Foul demon!!" Herb cried as he leapt in to do battle. He did not even get very far before Kun Lao blasted him away. The chi sorcerer crossed the bokken and dagger in front of him, they flashed with immense power and the blast hit Herb so hard he nearly flew out of the Kuno estate.  
  
Unopposed now, Kun Lao pocketed the bokken into his samurai garb, and raised his hand towards the house. The final key flew through the door and straight towards his outstretched hand. The chi sorcerer caught it with ease, turned it over and over in his hand, and smiled.  
  
"I would love to stay and play with all of you some more, but I have business to attend to now." he said with a bow. "But rest assured, he shall return to finish this game. For good." With that he tore open a rift in the fabric of space and time with his dagger and vanished.  
  
_____  
  
"I thought only virgins could hold the final key." Ranma said with a groan as Akane wrapped gauze around a wicked looking wound on his left arm. He lay on a futon in the tea room of the Tendo dojo. It was nearly an hour since the defeat at the Kuno estate and everyone was feeling it. Most everyone else was asleep in the dojo on rolled out futons. Prince Herb looked like he was about to fall over as he sipped a cup of tea with Kuno Hikaru sitting next to him at the table.  
  
"The body of Kuno Tatawaki was a virgin." Rouge told him.  
  
"Damn." Ranma sighed.  
  
"Never have I fought an opponent with such power, at least not since Ranma himself." Prince Herb said weakly.  
  
"And to take the body of my kinsman, I cannot help but think he had this planned from the beginning." Hikaru replied in a similar voice.  
  
"Poor Kuno baby." Nabiki said sadly. She sat on the other side of Ranma helping Akane patch up Ranma. Shampoo and Ukyo were laying on futons nearby fast asleep, their fatigue had gotten the better of them, and they both collapsed quickly.  
  
"Knowing the way that bastard thinks, he probably did." said Ranma.  
  
"You should get some sleep." said Nabiki.  
  
"Yeah, but how can I sleep with that thing out there." he said.  
  
Akane shook her head, "You can't save the world if you can barely stand up."  
  
Ranma heard the door to the house open and watched as Kasumi and Washu came in from the direction of the dojo carrying medical supplies and a tea service.  
  
"Well, considering, everyone walked away from this without anything worse than minor cuts and bruises." said Washu.  
  
"How is Kodachi?" Ranma asked her.  
  
Washu smiled at him. She heard what the girls made him do in an attempt to save the day. She hoped it would not came back to bite them all in the ass. "She is fine, I had to sedate her to keep her calm." she told him. "She wanted to chase after her brother."  
  
"What about the-the other thing?" he asked her nervously.  
  
Washu sighed and said, "She isn't going to like this, but it looks like those strange drugs derived from his roses have caused her to, well, loose fertility." Ranma heaved a great sigh of relief which was echoed by Akane. Nabiki looked at Akane and then at Ranma with a puzzled expression. She could not help but feel as if she was missing something.  
  
"Uh, what is going on?" she asked.  
  
"Shampoo, Ukyo, and me sort of forced Ranma to do something that would sort of stop Kun Lao in his tracks, or so we thought at the time." Akane said with an embarrassed expression.  
  
Nabiki looked at her iinazuke through narrowed eyes, "Oh, I've got to hear this one."  
  
"I'd rather not if its all the same." Ranma sighed.  
  
"Was she good?"  
  
"NABIKI!!" Akane and Ranma exclaimed together.  
  
"Does she even know it happened?" Nabiki asked. Akane looked at Ranma, she sighed and nodded.  
  
"She came out of her zoned out daze while 'it' was happening." she said with a deep red blush. "You should have seen her face when she saw me holding her up, Shampoo holding he legs open, and Ranma was-uh-he was-"  
  
"Feeding her the sausage." Nabiki finished for her.  
  
"Uh, yeah!" Akane said with an intense blush.  
  
Nabiki sigh and ran a hand through across her face and through her hair. "I don't supposed she's going to forget it happened." she said. Akane shook her head, she knew Kodachi would never forget about it, even though she was barely able to move at the time 'it' was happening.  
  
"Looks like our number had increased by one, you are certainly massing a nice sized harem Ranma." Nabiki smirked at the man she loved.  
  
Ranma just rolled his eyes at her and sighed deeply.  
  
"She doesn't have anyone now though, her brother is gone, and all there is left is Sasuke." said Akane.  
  
"And old pineapple breath." Ranma added.  
  
The two Tendo sisters just smiled at him knowingly. "We both know that you've made up your mind what you are going to do about this, Ranma." said Nabiki. Ranma did not set up, he did not have the strength, but he did reach wearily with his arms and took the two girl's hands in his own.  
  
"Noble Ranma, we know for a fact that you were going to add her to our number." Nabiki smirked playfully. "You aren't the type to screw a girl and then run out on her. Am I right Akane?" She looked up at her sister. Akane was blushing, she had helped Ranma deflower the Dark Rose, and she nodded. Do they know that well?, thought Ranma.  
  
"I won't let her try to take over things, or make herself more important than any of you." Ranma reassured them.  
  
Nabiki squeezed his hand, "You leave that part to us, you just concentrate on getting better and kicking that bastard's ass back to the nine hells. Anyway, we can deal with Kodachi, she is just like her brother 'was', so controlling her will be pretty easy."  
  
"She is going to be pretty hard to live with for a while, at least until she realizes, one, she isn't your only official iinazuke, and two, she isn't the only one to get her brains banged out by the Wild Horse." she added smiling like a Cheshire cat.  
  
Ranma blushed so hard he felt almost as if he was going to pass out from the blood loss. "I would not exactly call what happened a romantic moment." he said.  
  
"True, but the only thing she will remember from the experience, or what her delusional fantasy world will allow her to remember, is you ramming her behind with that fourteen inch log of yours." said Nabiki.  
  
"fourteen inch?" Akane looked at her.  
  
Nabiki smiled with a blush, "I sort of measured him in his sleep after our first time, I guess your parents gave you the right name Ranma."  
  
The pigtailed martial artist did not have a comeback for that one. He was red all over and looking at the ceiling in total shock. "Fourteen inches." he said after a long silence and then smiled at the two girls.  
  
"Uh, oh, I think you gave him a big head Nabiki." said Akane recognizing that look as Ranma's trademark super-inflated ego smile.  
  
"Interesting choice of words there sis." laughed Nabiki. Akane snapped her mouth shut and blushed furiously as she rolling her own words around in her mind.  
  
_____  
  
Kuno Lao had a day and half lead on them. They all knew it. Ryoko sat at the controls of Ryo-Ohki as she guided the sentient spaceship towards their destination. Everyone was either seated or standing behind her, all were preparing for what was to come in the next few hours. Ranma and Prince Herb sat side by side, once enemies they were now friends united against a common foe, and both were deep in meditation gathering their spiritual energies for the final battle that was ahead. Kuno Hikaru was checking his katana for damage, at his side is reincarnated love Kasumi sat holding his tea for him with an expression of absolute love and adoration in her eyes. Ranma's harem were all getting ready for the fight in their own way. Akane sat with Shampoo in meditation close to Ranma. Ukyo sat nearby checking her baker's peel and examining the fresh runes of magic that had been inscribed there by the Hentai Twins before leaving on this journey. Kodachi sat with them, she was in a daze. On one hand she was elated beyond words that her beloved Ranma accepted her love, but she was also overwhelmed by all she had learned about what was going on with him as well. He was a Prince of a powerful empire and was expected to have many wives. She decided she willing to share him, even if it meant she could not be first wife. There was also the loss of her brother, learning that what happened to him was not reversible was the shocker. Learning that her brother was dead and replaced by that same monster who tried to control her mind jolted something within the girl's mind. In some small way, it and the revelation of being with Ranma finally freed her of the Madness she had carried most of her life.  
  
Nabiki wondered why she was with this group as she sat nearby her sister and sister concubines. That was what they were, she did not mind being considered a concubine, especially to a man like Ranma who was every girl's greatest dream. Or every man's great wet dream if he gets splashed with cold water, she thought with a chuckle. No, she was here because she loved him and she loved them. There would be little if anything she could do in a fight. Kasumi, she knew magic from the memories of one of her past lives so she knew healing spells that would be useful. Nabiki looked at the other side of the ship's interior at the other girls. Ayeka stood beside Ryoko at the controls garbed in her Juraian battle gear. Tenchi sat in his similar garb in deep meditation. Mihoshi was close by checking over a rather huge looking weapon that she had to hold up to her shoulder to fire. Young Sasami with was with them sitting next to Washu who was busily typing away at her translucent computer with the speed of Ranma's Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken technique. Ranma's sister, who's birth could be thanked to Washu's tampering with Ranma's Josenkyo curse, sat with Ryoga who had his arm draped around her shoulder. Like it or not, Nabiki could see that the two were getting close. She harbored some thought that the pig boy was probably secretly in love with Ranma's feminine half but kept it pushed back to farthest corner of his mind. If what she heard happened during the whole incident with the Fishing Rod of Love was true, Ryoga had a chance to get rid of Ranma for good and he could not do it. Now there was nothing getting in the way, Akane rejected Ryoga's affections and was just tolerating his presence because he was helping them fight Kun Lao, and Ranko was with them as a real separate person now.  
  
The odd half of the group were the Amazons, Rouge and her two charges Salt and Pepper. Nabiki recalled there had been a music group with that name in the United States at one time. The so called Hentai Twins sat together in deep meditation with Rouge watching over them. The former Ice Queen of Furinken High raised an eye brow at the older but still beautiful Amazon woman. Her normally more conservative outfit was now slightly more revealing showing off her exotic curves better. Maybe they are starting to rub off on her., she thought to herself.  
  
"We're almost there." said Ryoko from her seat at the controls.  
  
"The shrine that holds the Chamber of Ascension is hidden in the forest we are flying above now." said Rouge. "It is protected by powerful magic from above so we will need to land some distance away and travel the rest of the way on foot."  
  
Ranma's eyes shot open and he said, "Alright, lets do this.  
  
_____  
  
On a plain far from the mortal world a woman who was almost too beautiful for words with dark brown skin and platinum hair watched the scene on the ship on a giant holographic display. She sighed and waved her hand at the scene making it disappear.  
  
"They don't know do they?" asked someone next to her. The woman turned her head to the child standing next to her. She had long black hair and wore a white and red outfit with a red, metal mallet slung over her back. She like the other had strange blue tattoos on their faces.  
  
"We better get sis, this is serious, they need to be told what that place really is." the platinum haired beauty said as she reached out and affectionately ruffled the young girl's hair.  
  
"I can't believe those stories are still going around that that place turns people into Kami." Skuld shook her head.  
  
"You know mortals, you start a rumor and it spreads like wild fire." Urd sighed. The child goddess grabbed her older sister's hand and pulled her out of her seat.  
  
"Come on, let get Belldandy and get there before they do!" Skuld told her.  
  
"You better hope they can stop that Kun Lao before he uses those keys, or they will be needing us there in a big way." said Urd.  
  
She felt Skuld shudder, "Don't even think that, we don't want him to ever open that thing."  
  
"Lets use your water portal, I'm tired of climbing out of TV sets." said Urd as they leapt out over a pool of water and a magic portal appeared on its glassy surface. Soon the goddess were gone form sight. _____  
  
To be continued...  
  
Next time... Part 8: The Chamber of Ascension  
  
We now come to the final chapter. Kun Lao possess all of the keys and the race is on to the Chamber of Ascension, but will Ranma and Tenchi be in time to stop the evil Chi Sorcerer from achieving his goal to become a god? Stay tuned! Special Note: There will be a special OAV wedding chapter coming soon! 


	8. Part 8: The Chamber of Ascension

DISCLAIMER: "Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki" is a registered trademark and copyright of AIC Inc. and Pioneer. "Ranma 1/2" is a registered trademark and copyright of Rumiko Takahashi, Viz Communications and Kitty Productions.  
  
T E N C H I 1 / 2: FAMILY REUNION II  
  
By Michael "TheZorch" Haney  
  
Part 8: The Chamber of Ascension – The Final Chapter  
  
And so it begins...  
  
The trek through the forest was not difficult at all. The shrine where the Chamber of Ascension was located had magical defenses to protect it against aerial approach, but not from approach on the ground. This meant that the intrepid group of warriors had to land some distance away and move on foot. This also meant that their intended target had to move on foot as well. The entire area was dotted with stone obelisks engraved with magical wards to prevent teleportation into the shrine. So, Kun Lao would have to walk like the rest of them. This gave Tenchi, Ranma, and their gaggle of iinazuke and family a distinct advantage. Unfortunately, the wards did not stop other forms of magic from being used, so the Chi Sorcerer could have laid down any number of magical traps for his pursuers. It was a very dangerous walk they were on to say the least.  
  
"The keys to the chamber within the shrine opens a different door, beyond each door is a challenge that must be met before you can reach the next one." explained Rouge as they walked.  
  
"What are these challenges?" asked Ranma.  
  
Rouge looked at him and shrugged. "I do not know, much of what is known about this place was lost long ago."  
  
Washu walked along side Tenchi. Her translucent computer floated in the air in front of her. "I'm reading an unusually large amount of energy ahead of us. It's of a type I've never seen before."  
  
"This place is scary." Sasami clung to Tenchi's arm as she looked around at the forest with fear in her eyes. "I don't know why, but I get this feeling like we should not be here."  
  
"I can feel it too. Like some kind of evil, but I don't think its coming from Kun Lao." said Tenchi.  
  
"It isn't." came a soft, lovely voice from behind them.  
  
The group of assembled fighters whipped around quickly taking ready stances. As their eyes beheld what was before them a few of the girls were suddenly brought to tears. Whom it was who stood before them was more beautiful than any woman they had ever seen. Her beauty was so breathtaking, so incredibly unearthly it was almost painful to look upon her as if due to some unworthiness within them to set their eyes upon her.  
  
"W-W-Who are you?" asked Akane.  
  
The beautiful woman was dressed in a flowing blue and white gown that seemed to billow and flow as if under the influence of a breeze none of them could feel. She smiled at Akane and replied, "I am the goddess Belldandy."  
  
"G-G-Goddess!?" The entire group looked at her in astonishment.   
  
Sometime later the group and their beautiful guest sat around a hastily lit campfire. Ranma and Tenchi knew that speed was of the essence, but this goddess knew a lot about the shrine. The more they knew the easier it would be dealing with this problem.  
  
"I remember you, I met you the day that, I, I mean Sakumi, died." Kuno Hikaru found it hard to keep his eyes off the beautiful goddess. Her face was so familiar to him, he knew he had seen her before, then it came back to him. It was the memory of that day, the terrible day Kun Lao took that which was most precious to him.  
  
"Yes, it was me." Belldandy smiled. Akane and Nabiki could not help but notice the resemblance this goddess had to their older sister. Though they did not really look the same, their mannerisms were almost identical.  
  
"You said it wasn't Kun Lao who was giving off that evil aura. Who is it then?" Ranma asked her.  
  
Belldandy looked in the direction of the shrine with a grim expression on her face. "The story of this place housing a fountain that makes mortals into Kami is a fabrication."  
  
"Nani!?" everyone exclaimed.  
  
"It was a false story told by the dark disciples of what is imprisoned within the shrine. It was their hope that some greedy person would seek out the keys and unlock the doors that holds it within." she explained.  
  
"It-It's a prison?" Ranko stared at her in shock.  
  
Belldandy nodded. "If what is there is released it will mean the end of not only this world but countless others. It is an evil that has slept there for thousands of years."  
  
"But what is it?" Ryoko asked her.  
  
Belldandy looked up towards the sky as if pleading to someone and replied, "It has many names, its evil has existed since the before the beginning of this universe and it took the combined efforts of heaven and two powerful sorceresses to imprison it. The thing destroyed thousands of worlds before the Kami in heaven and the two sorceresses trapped it."  
  
"Two sorceresses." Rouge rubbed her chin as if in thought for a moment, then something from her past emerged from her memories. She remembered being in the great library in the village of Nyanchiczu. It was an ancient scroll that had attracted her attention. She was not sure why but she was compelled to read it. As the memory was what was written on that scroll appeared in her mind's eye, Rouge panicked.  
  
"BY ALL THAT IS HOLY, NO!!!" she screamed.  
  
"Rouge, what wrong?" Shampoo asked in concern.  
  
Rouge jumped to her feet. "Hurry, we must stop that fool before it's too late. We cannot let him open the doors within that shrine."  
  
"Would someone please tell me what the hell is inside that shrine, I'd like to know what we're up against." demanded Ranma.  
  
Rouge turned to him and said, "In western religions the creature is sometimes called The Beast, in others it is given a different name. Its true name is Takhisis, the Queen of Darkness, mistress of chaos and war."   
  
What Rouge had said made the hairs on the backs of everyone's heads stand up on end. Ranma especially did not like what he just heard. Everyone was moving again, this time a little faster. It also meant that their chances of running into trouble was greater so the combatants kept their eyes peeled for anything.  
  
"Takhisis came from another plane of existence where she tried to destroy a world called Krynn, but failed. A powerful Kami known as Paladine banished her from that plane forever so her evil would not infect the world again, and that is how she arrived here." explained Belldandy as she hovered a bit off the ground as she followed them.  
  
"So she's a demon?" asked Ayeka.  
  
Belldandy shook her head. "She is, or was, a Goddess, but she is not affiliated with our pantheon and thus we had no power over her actions or movements."  
  
"Which means the Big Guy upstairs couldn't tell her what to do?" inquired Ukyo.  
  
"That is right, Father had no authority over her, she ignored his warnings and it was discovered that she was very powerful." Belldandy replied.  
  
"If it took the combined force of heaven and two sorceresses to stop this Queen of Darkness, then its gotta be really powerful." said Ranma.  
  
"We're here." Rouge stopped and pointed down the tail where the trees of the forest opened up onto a clearing. In the center was a small shrine building that did not seem that much larger than the Masaki Shrine.  
  
"That's the place, doesn't look too impressive." Ryoko grunted.  
  
"Appearances can be deceiving oh daughter of mine." Washu waved a finger at her Little Ryoko for being so simple minded.  
  
Sasami tightened her grip on Tenchi's arm. "I don't like this place. Let's go back."  
  
"We can't." Tenchi replied and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. The little girl seemed to come out of her terror just a little.  
  
"Ok, where's the uber-hentai?" Akane growled as she readied herself for battle.  
  
Ryoko's enhanced vision picked up minute detail. Looking at the shrine she noticed that the front door to the place was open slightly. "I think he's inside."  
  
"Aiya! Maybe he have first door open!" exclaimed Shampoo.  
  
Ranma flexed his muscles and clenched his fists. All of his joints made loud popping noises. "Come on Tenchi, time to go and kick some ass." Just as he was about to leave the group he noticed through the corner of his eye that Kodachi was following him.  
  
"No, I want you to stay here with the others. This is something me and my cousin have to do." he told her.  
  
"But Ranma darling-"  
  
"Kodachi, this is really really dangerous which is why only me and Tenchi are going in right now." he explained to her.  
  
"But-" Her words were cut short when a hand feel on her should. Kodachi looked behind her to see the Pig Tailed Girl.  
  
"My brother and Tenchi are the only two of us who have even the slightest chance of beating that son of a bitch. The only thing we can do is make sure no more of that bastard's friends show up to help him." she said.  
  
Kodachi looked at her in shock. "Ranma darling is your brother, your brother?" Ranko nodded. "Then all this time I assumed you were out to steal my darling Ranma from me." the Black Rose added. She turned towards the red head and bowed. "Please forgive my actions towards you in the past."  
  
Everyone looked at her in shock. Kodachi the Black Rose was apologizing! Actually apologizing for something, for real!?  
  
"Ranma honey, Tenchi, you go on, we'll talk to her and set up some ground rules. Kick him in the jewels for me sugar." said Ukyo.  
  
"You sure you do not need us?" Ayeka asked Tenchi as she gestured towards herself, Ryoko, and Mihoshi.  
  
"I will go with them." Herb said as he stepped forward.  
  
"My sisters will arrive soon and we will try to provide assistance." said Belldandy.  
  
"Miya, miya!" Ryu-Ohki meowed to Tenchi.  
  
"She said be careful." Sasami translated. She gestured for Tenchi to bend down and kissed him on the cheek. Tenchi smiled at her. With a gentle finger he lift her face towards his and gave her gentle peck on the lips. Sasami blushed so deeply her face matched the color of Ranko's hair.  
  
"We will. Don't worry." he said and turned to the others. "Are we ready?"  
  
Ranma nodded. "I owe that fucker a serious ass kicking for everything he's done to us and our friends."  
  
"My pride as the Heir to the Throne of the Musk Dynasty much be avenged." said Herb with a grim expression.  
  
The Hentai Twins ran forwards and began to draw runic symbols in the air around the three fighters. "Let us give you these powerful wards against evil. They may not stand up to that Takhisis entity, but they should help protect you against Kun Lao's powers." said Pepper.  
  
"Such lovely creatures." Herb seemed transfixed on the two lovely, scantily clad Amazon chi sorceresses. The two noticed and blush rather furiously at his attention. They never said, but let it be known that the two have had a long standing crush on the powerful Musk ruler.  
  
"Ok, its time we ended this." said Ranma and soon the three were headed for the shrine and destiny. They would have continued but a warning shout from Herb caught Ranma's attention. Everyone looked up as a hulking huge monster of man leapt down from the roof of the shrine swinging a massive war hammer. Tenchi and the others just barely managed to get out of the way as the hammer hit the ground. A shockwave passed through the earth knocking everyone off their feet and dug a huge crater in the soil. The massive man was bare chested and had muscles bulging out of every corner of his body. His face was covered in a leather mask that was attached to his head with straps. An reeking oder came off of the huge man that was making some of the group sick to their stomachs.  
  
"Why does it always have to be big huge frick'n bad guys." Ryoko growled in annoyance as she charged up her light sword.  
  
"Get the others back!" Ranma shouted to the others. Akane quickly ushered the others out of the clearing and back into the trees.  
  
In the clearing Herb stood next to the pig tailed martial artist and looked up at their towering opponent. "The larger they are the louder a thud they make when they die."  
  
"I think you mean the harder they fall." Ranma corrected him.  
  
Herb drew his sword with a broad smile on face and said, "Close enough." His advance was stopped by a lilting laughter behind them. Ranma and Herb moved back from the massive man and towards the trees trying to find the source of the sound. They looked up at the tree the others were hiding under and saw him.  
  
"I do hope you find my dear brother entertaining." the figure up in the tree asked them before leaping down. He was a tall man, not as massive as the other, but also well built. He wore the garb of a bygone era in Japanese history and carried twin katana swords on his back. His eyes were the only thing unnatural about him. They were black as pitch as if his eyes were deep dark voids. He looked over at the girls huddled under the three and smirked.  
  
"What a lovely collection you have here," he said. "It almost pains me to have to take them away from you."  
  
Ranma fell into a fighting stand and began to call up on his chi reserves. "That's what you think."  
  
"Such a lovely little creature," the stranger said as he looked directly at Sasami, she could feel her skin crawl as he looked at her. "Very lovely, she is young now, but when she's older we'll be able to play. Oh yes, we will play indeed." A high pitched electric screech caught his attention and the man turned to see another of his opponents approach holding a glowing sword in his hands.  
  
"You will never lay a hand on Sasami!" Tenchi shouted at him in anger.  
  
The man just smirked and nonchalantly reached up and drew his twin katana. "Then prove your worthiness for her." The man moved at a blinding speed that was unbelievable. Tenchi was ready, he was pissed, and easily deflected the incoming sword swings. Herb and Kuno Hikaru were at his side taking shots at the sword wielding attack within seconds. Ranma was about to jump into the fray when he felt rather than heard another hammer blow by their first opponent. He wiped around and to see Ryoko, Ryoga, his sister, and Ukyo trying to fight the massive brute. They were not doing a good job of it.  
  
"Shit!" he spat and threw himself into the battle. Ranma reached the brute in less than a second and delivered a devastating Amaguriken blow to his chest. The brute just shrugged it off, lifted his hammer and tried to slam him into the ground like a tent spike. Ranma leapt clear of the blow. He heard a shout below as he sailed through the air and saw that one of them was not so lucky. Ryoga had been right next to the hammer when it hit and was thrown clear of the fighting.  
  
"Ryoga!" Akane shouted as she watched the lost boy fly towards them head first. She ran away from the huddled group by the tree and caught him in mid flight. The impact knocked her off her feet.  
  
"T-T-Thanks." said Ryoga.  
  
Akane signed with a mild smile and said, "No problem, besides it would have made Ranko sad if anything happened to you."  
  
"MOKO TAKABISHA!!!!" the battle cry drew their attention as Ranma cut loose with the Mother of All Chi Blasts at point blank range! The blue conflagration of raw energy slammed into the brute and knocked him backwards a few steps. It was all the distraction that they needed. Ukyo swung her baker's peel with all her might letting out a sharp cry as she hit the brute's left knee. The flat blade dug into the flesh making a black, thick fluid ooze from the wound. A wave a stench smacked the okonomiyaki chef in the face making her take a few steps back while he tried to keep from heaving the contents of her stomach. Ryoga climbed back to his feet and threw himself into the fight despite the unholy smell. His umbrella lead the way as he ran. When he reached the brute he swung it towards his masked face with all his might. The incredibly heavy weapon struck the brute between the eyes almost making him drop the huge hammer he was dragging with him. Loud inhuman groans came from behind that mask.  
  
"This guy is really tough." Ranko said huffing and puffing as she stepped next to Ryoga.  
  
"Yeah, but he seems to be really slow upstairs." said Ukyo.  
  
"Surround him, maybe we can confuse him." Ranma barked at them and the others moved with question. Attacks came at the brute from all sides and it became apparent that he was indeed very slow to react to them. He tried to swing his hammer at them but the wound on his knee prevent a lot of movement.  
  
"Alright, big and stupid, that's how I like'em." Ranma smirked as he leapt in and hit the back of the brute's damaged leg. The hulking man cried out in that same unnatural tone and toppled over backwards. When he landed the ground shook for miles around and knocked just about everyone else off their feet.  
  
Elsewhere near the clearing Herb and Hikaru were leaping through the trees chasing Tenchi and the sword wielder as they battled it out in the forest canopy. It looked to the others who could see them like a scene out of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon as the swordsman and Tenchi exchanged sword blows while balancing and leaping from tree branch to tree branch. The two came together on a particularly sturdy group of branches and locked swords. Tenchi was amazed that his opponents sword was standing up to the Master Key. Up close he could see strange runes engraved into the finely crafted blades his enemy carried.  
  
"You are much better than I expected." the man said.  
  
"This is only just the beginning." said Tenchi showing a bit of the confidence he learned to harness from Ranma's teachings.  
  
"Good, I hate short fights." the man replied breaking off and took a few steps back.  
  
The swordsman lowered his weapons in a non-offensive manner and looked Tenchi straight in the eye. "I am Saragami, a servant to my lord Kun Lao, whom do I have the pleasure of fighting today? I will have the name of one so skilled in the sword."  
  
"Masaki Tenchi, crown prince of Jurai." Tenchi replied.  
  
"A prince, I'm impressed." Saragami said with an eyebrow Spock Maneuver. He gestured towards the towering brute that was struggling to get back to his feet in the clearing.  
  
"That is my brother in arms Toragami, he is not my brother in blood, but I think your friends will find him to be quite vile just the same." he added.  
  
Prince Herb flew down from another tree and immediately took a position between Tenchi and Saragami. "Enough talk, you are delaying me from my vengeance against your foul master!" he cried as he moved in for the attack. Tenchi stood back letting the Musk prince take on the swordsman for a while. He had to admit the strange man was skilled, very skilled, and Herb found himself hard pressed to gain any advantage. It immediately occurred to Tenchi what Herb was doing. He knew he had to be a better fighter than this, and then understood that the Musk prince was testing out of opponent for weaknesses. Hikaru arrived a few seconds later with the Kuno clan blade in hand. He watched the fight and made the same assessment but in much shorter time than Tenchi did. Very soon all hell was about to break loose.  
  
"RYU SEI HISHO!" The battle cry echoed throughout the forest like a sonic boom. Tenchi and Hikaru covered their eyes as a blinding light engulfed Prince Herb and their opponent. When they looked again the branches they had been on were gone, their tips smoldering. Herb was a short distance away standing on another tree branch, bending it low with his weight.  
  
"That was far too easy." he muttered under his breath upon seeing no sign of his target. Herb's enhanced senses told him suddenly to move out of the way. He stepped to the left just a little but it was enough. Saragami came flying past him, his sword tip leading the way. A trail of smoke followed the swordsman as he flew towards the ground.  
  
"I underestimated you, that really hurt." said Saragami as he clutched his sword arm which was bleeding profusely. All three fighters did not miss the fact that the blood coming out of the man was not red but green and oozed like tree sap rather than regular blood.  
  
"You underestimated all of us!" Hikaru shouted as he flew from the tree. He flipped through the air above Saragami's head and as he reached the apex of his jump he cried out in a voice louder than Herb's own battle cry.  
  
"DRAGONSONG!" Bright light engulf the entire area. Tenchi felt a wave of intense heat hit him like a ton of bricks and he was thrown out of the tree. Herb lost his footing, being closer to the blast, he was sent flying but quickly oriented himself for a landing on his feet. When the heat and light finally dissipated at bit he arrived just as Tenchi came running to find Hikaru standing over the twisted, blackened body of Saragami.  
  
"Impressive, I did not know anyone outside of the Musk Dynasty knew the Dragonsong technique." Herb said with a friendly smile. "Even I do not know most of its secrets." The technique as ancient and powerful, it was legendary among the Musk and one of their most well kept secret techniques.  
  
"The Kuno family sword was a gift given to my grandfather," Hikaru explained. "He went on a journey to China one year and returned with this sword, it became the sacred sword of our family and symbol of leadership for our clan."  
  
Herb stepped forward and looked at the sword again up close. Upon seeing it he noticed that on the blade were etched tiny runes in the ancient Musk language of magic. "Dragon's Bane." he gasped recognizing it instantly. He looked at the Kuno patriarch and asked him, "Are you the grandson of Kuno Tanaka?"  
  
Hikaru nodded his head. "Yes." He had never heard the story of where the sword has really come from. His grandfather told him tales of a powerful kingdom within China and of incredible wars where men fought demons, but nothing was ever told of where the sword really came from.  
  
Herb offered his hand to man and bowed towards him respectfully. "I am honored to greet you Kuno Hikaru, grandson of Kuno Tanaka, the man who saved my father's life many centuries ago." Hikaru looked at him in surprise. He never heard his grandfather tell anything about saving a king.  
  
"Maybe we can save this for later, I think the others are in trouble." Tenchi interrupted them. They turned to see the others still engaged in battle with the hulking Toragami. The huge man was still brandishing his war hammer, but his body was now covered in several oozing wounds. Ryoga had reentered the fight using his unnaturally heavy umbrella as a club. For all the pounding the man was getting it did not seem to be slowing him down any at all.  
  
"I only had enough energy left for one Dragonsong." Hikaru said suddenly looking very tired.  
  
"Leave it to us, come Tenchi!" Herb shouted behind him as he ran to join the others. He arrived just as Ryoko flew by throwing a series of blasts at the huge man's weapon hand. Everyone look like they were exhausted, but still they pressed on the attack. None of them really had any rest at all since the battle at the Amazon village and the encounter at the Kuno mansion. They got what little sleep they were able to get and that was it.  
  
"Ranko! Get into the spiral! Lets see this asshole handle a double barreled attack!" The redhead nodded towards her brother and they both began to weave a spiral pattern around their opponent. The hot chi coming off of his mixed with their cold chi as they fell into the Soul of Ice. The others, having seen this technique used before, started to make tracks away from ground zero. Herb had encountered the attack himself once, at that time he and Ranma had been enemies rather than allies.  
  
"They aren't fighting." Ayeka commented upon seeing the two martial artists dance around the huge man without throwing a single attack.  
  
"Uh, we'd better take cover." warned Akane. She knew Ranma's attack was powerful, but if both he and Ranko set it off at the same time. There was no telling what might happen.  
  
"Cologne must has taught him that technique." Rouge commented and was very impressed to see the two performing it flawlessly. She and the rest including Belldandy moved away deeper into the forest. As they stepped behind a huge tree they heard the twin shouts.  
  
"HIRYU SHOTEN HA!" And all hell broke loose.   
  
Kuno Lao looked behind him where he was working. He felt a slight twinge at the back of his mind. Saragami, not one of most powerful minions, was dead. It was not surprising considering the power of the opponents he was going up against. Toragami was a different matter. He was almost as powerful as Gaal the Crusher. He turned back to his work, arranging the key pieces like a puzzle into slots on the wall. The small wooden shrine housed a secret, a stone spiral stairwell that descended deep into the earth and opened up into a vast labyrinth. The far end of the immense chamber was the first of many doors that had to be opened, but to open this first door a few of the keys had to be placed in a appropriate manner.  
  
With the keys in place, they began to emit a soft light, then the great doors groaned after several millennia of ever being opened. The next chamber was dark, it was the first of the three trials. Legend never told what these trials were but Kun Lao was confident that he could get through them. He crossed the threshold with bokken and dagger in hand ready for anything that came his way. Before him stood a short obelisk upon which were engraved a message in an ancient text he did not understand. The Chi Sorcerer focused his thoughts and called upon the spirit of the rock to give forth its secrets. The lettering on the stone became as clearly understandable to him as if he had written them himself.  
  
"You who seek that which is within must pass this challenge. Venture forth and cross the chasm, fall and you shall perish. You who sees the unseen shall be allowed to pass." he read out loud. Behind the stone was a vast dark chamber. The only thing visible was a single walkway of stone that extended out into the darkness and seemed to go on until it faded into the inky blackness of the chamber itself.  
  
"This challenge is easy." he muttered and stepped out onto the walkway. It was narrow, there was about enough room for one person at a time to cross. The further he went the darker became. The Chi Sorcerer called upon his power again and summoned a globe of light on end of his bokken and held it high like a torch. There was nothing else around except for the walkway that continued to stretch into eternity.  
  
"This is no challenge, you just need to keep your balance." Kuno Lao said thinking out loud again. He kept going on still and still there was no end in sight. Finally he began to see a faint light in the dark haze ahead. Eventually, after a long period of time he finally reached it then noticed something was off. It was right where he started from.  
  
"How the hell did this happen?" he demanded out loud and walked back to the stone to read the text again. "You who see the unseen shall be allowed to pass." He stepped back to the edge of the chasm and looked out into the darkness. Bending down he picked up a handful of sand off the stone floor and tossed it into the darkness. Most of the grains fell, but a few remained suspended in the air as if by magic.  
  
"Clever." he said with a smile. Then, with a tentative step Kun Lao ventured out onto the invisible walkway and into the darkness beyond.   
  
"HIRYU SHOTEN HA!" The dual battle cries seemed to shake the Earth as the twin martial artists unleashed their fury. Everyone hiding behind the tree screamed in fright and surprise as a winds stronger than a hurricane suddenly kicked up and a roar louder than anything they had ever head assaulted their ears. A maelstrom of wind and pure chi energy rose into the sky with a force thousands of times greater than any F5 category tornado; aka the Finger of God.  
  
Tenchi and Herb held onto each other and the roots a very large tree to keep from being either blown away by the winds or pulled into the monstrous vortex. Ryoko held Ukyo in her arms as she tried to fly away from the incredible wind currents. She had to satisfy with teleporting away to where the others were hiding some distance away. Ryoga hugged the ground and tore into the earth with his fingers to keep a firm grip. He looked up, he was just inches from the edge of massive vortex and he could barely see Ranma and Ranko's forms at the center of the destruction. He could not see any sign of the hulking brute they had been fighting.  
  
Slowly, the winds began to die down. Herb and Tenchi let go and fell to the ground as the winds stopped pulling them. Ryoga stood and surveyed the destruction his new "girlfriend" and her brother caused. The others came out of hiding and walked slowly towards the site. Where Ranma and Ranko stood there was a huge crater surrounding them like a ring of earth that just wasn't there anymore. There was no sign of the brute they had been fighting at all.  
  
"Holy shit." said Nabiki looking over the devastation.  
  
"What she said." Kasumi gasped in surprise. All eyes turned to her in sudden surprise and she blushed furiously.  
  
"I guess that's that." Ranko said dusting herself off. She started to climb down off the pedestal of earth she and her brother were still on when she saw the expression on his face. Instantly she was in a ready stance, tired as hell, but ready none the less. A massive hand crashed out of the loose soil at the bottom of the crater and made a grab for her. Ranko leapt high back flipping out of way just in time. Ranma, who was also tired as hell, caught her then they both leapt away to the edge of the crater as Toragami began extracting himself form the ground.  
  
"What the hell does it take to kill this bastard!?" Ranma shouted.  
  
"Aiya, like try to kill cockroach." Shampoo replied.  
  
Toragami was not in very good shape himself. Despite being covered in loose soil he sported more wounds, and his arm, the one wielding the war hammer, hung limply as his side. The oder form his many wounds was almost unbearable. Everyone backed away as the huge man crawled up out of the crater and stood on shaky legs.  
  
"We might not have killed him, but that certainly did hurt him a hell of a lot." said Ranko.  
  
"My turn then!" Ryoga shouted. He stepped in front of Ranko with his hands raised and cut loose with a chi blast. The Shi Shi Hokadon flared brightly in his hands and then suddenly fizzled out with a pop.  
  
"Huh!?" he looked at his hands in startled surprise. The Shi Shi Hokadon had never failed him before. Ranko rolled her eyes and bopped him on the back of the head.  
  
"Baka, that only works if you're depressed!" she berated him. She could not blame him for not being depressed actually. Being around her seemed to have a positive reaction on the Lost Boy. Gone was the dark moodiness that usually accompanied Ryoga wherever he went. They, whether they declared it official or not, were now in a relationship.  
  
"Look out!" came a warning from Shampoo. Ryoga turned in time avoid Toragami's huge fist. He and Ranko leapt clear of the clumsy blow and rolled to their feet into a ready stance. Back on his feet, the Lost Boy pulled a few bandannas off his head and twirled them at the big man's head. Two deflected off the leather mask, but one hit the strap holding it on. The mask fell away from the face to the ground and everyone stood in absolute shock. Sasami screamed and hid herself behind Ayeka's robes as the non-combatants in the group began to edge away from the battlefield.  
  
The face of their opponent was a waking nightmare. The skin was brown and leathery like the mask. The man's eyelids and lips had apparently been carved away leaving a grotesque sight. Toragami let out that a inhuman growl that seemed to come more from a deep pit rather than from the hideous thing that was his mouth. The fighters scattered as he pulled his war hammer out of the ground with his good arm.  
  
"We're wasting time here, how do we take out this thing?" Tenchi asked as he ran over to Ranma and his sister. Herb was close behind with Ryoga at his side. Ukyo and Ryoko got some distance away from the thing, looking at it with an expression of horror on their faces.  
  
"He's strong, but not too smart." said Ranma.  
  
"We knock him down then aim for the heart." Herb suggested.  
  
Ranko shook her head. "I don't know if that will work, look at that thing. It has to be some kinda undead or something." All eyes turned to Hikaru.  
  
"I personally have never faced this foe or the other." he explained.  
  
"Shampoo think he stronger than big troll we fight in China." the beautiful Amazon said panting for breath.  
  
"The longer we dick with this guy the more time Kun Lao has to open that chamber, we need to a way to get this guy and for keeps." Ranma said urging them to come up with something fast. They had little time. The huge brute as slow now, due to injuries in his legs, but he was getting close enough to bring his hammer to bare on them. The fighters split up quickly to avoid the first blow. Hikaru went in fast slicing at the fingers that held the hammer hoping to disarm the massive brute. He managed to cut off only one finger before the hammer went up again and the creature bellowed in that unholy tone.  
  
"We must help them." Salt said as he peered around the tree she and the others were hiding behind. She looked at her sister and they both ran towards the battle. Rouge called out to them but it was too late. The Hentai Twins drew their weapons and charged into the fray. Herb saw two blurs pass him and fly over Toragami's body leaving a trail of fresh wounds in their wake. The two blurs returned and stopped in front of him to reveal the twin angels he had seen before. Such beautiful creatures., he thought to himself as he stared at their excessive, and barely covered endowments.  
  
"FLARE OF THE STARS!" they both shouted and a series of complex run like patterns formed in the air around Toragami. The patterns burst forth with bright light that engulfed the towering monstrosity in flames. Inhuman cries of agony came out of the chi energy inferno for several minutes, then ceased. When the bright light and flames died down everyone was witness to an astonishing sight. The place were Toragami had been standing was leveled flat and the sand turned to glass. There was no sign at all of the hulking beast save for a few scattered piles of black ash. The girls stood admiring their handiwork for moment when the fatigue of unleashing such powerful chi spell hit them. They fell backwards and were suddenly caught in a pair of powerful, yet gentle arms.  
  
"Such beautiful and powerful creatures, the Kami themselves would weep if such a treasures were ever lost to this world. And, I would weep also for having allowed such fair creatures pass from my embrace." Herb said doing a perfect Kuno imitation. The twins blushed from head to toe and snuggled into this embrace with happy smiles plastered on their faces.  
  
"That was incredible." said Akane as the others came out their hiding places from forest. They all gathered at the entrance to the shrine. Belldandy came among them and touched each who were injured or fatigued. The tiredness and pain was suddenly gone. It was time for them to part ways, on this journey only the fighters could continue. Tenchi said goodbye to his loves, hugging and giving each one a kiss. Ranma did the same. Herb received a kiss from the twins and blushed furiously. The look on their faces told him that he was in store for so much more when he came back. Everyone waved farewell to Ranko, Ryoga, Ranma, Tenchi, Hikaru, Herb, Ukyo, and Shampoo as they entered the shrine and filed down the spiral staircase within.  
  
Opening the next door was trickier. The lock was not so much a puzzle but a lock within a lock. A key had to positioned before the next could be placed. With the door finally open Kun Lao advanced into the next chamber. The first challenge had been a cunning one. An invisible bridge that bypassed the dimensional trick on the other path that sent you back where you came from. The next challenge was very different. After translating the stone he realized this was going to be a real challenge for once.  
  
The chamber was once again another dark void, this time littered with thousand of stone pillars. They were large enough for someone to stand on. To move Kun Lao supposed he would have to leap from pillar to pillar. But, the trick was finding the right one. Some were not as stable as the others and one misstep and he could find himself plummeting to his death. Focusing his thoughts, Kun Lao leapt into the dark abyss and landed on a pillar. It swayed a little but did not fall away. He moved on to the next one and the next without trouble. The fourth pillar he handed on began to topple to the side. With split second reflexes he leapt away just in time as the pillar fell into the darkness. He looked down at the falling stone tower and tried to judge just how deep this chamber was. After a few minutes he still did not hear any sound. A sudden sensation hit him and he looked up from where he came in.  
  
"Well, that didn't take long." he said out loud after feeling Toragami's abrupt demise.   
  
"What the hell!?" Ranma shouted as he realized that he was walking back in the direction of the entrance they had just come through. They were all on the think rock walkway. They assumed that an attack either by something in the darkness or some unseen mechanism would strike at them, but it was smooth sailing all the way back to the beginning.  
  
"It is a trick, there must be another path." said Herb.  
  
"Take a look at this, sugar." Everyone looked where Ukyo was pointing and they saw what looked like grains of sand hanging in mid air.  
  
"An invisible walkway." Ryoga gasped in surprise.  
  
"Even you can't get lost on a one way path." Ranma said needling him. H eeped as Ukyo bopped him on the head with her baker's peel.  
  
"Can it, lets go." she said and was the first to venture out onto the invisible bridge.  
  
"A formidable woman you have there, Saotome." Herb commented with a snicker as he passed the stunned pigtailed martial artist.  
  
Getting across the chasm was much easier, in fact it was not as wide as they previously thought. The group chalked it up to being some magical illusion much like the bridge that lead back to the beginning without turning. The doors to the next chamber stood open and many of them including Ranma and Herb groaned in annoyance. They immediately took in the room with its many pillars and began leaping across them at blinding speed. Ryoga landed on one that began to fall out from under him. Ukyo was on the next pillar over and she threw her baker's peel down for him to grab then she hauled him up before leaping off to the next pillar.  
  
"I think I've seen all this in the movie before." Tenchi remarked.  
  
"They use invisible bridge in Indiana Jones movies before, and this they use in silly Eddy Murphy film about demon and little boy with powers." Shampoo informed him.  
  
"You mean the Gold Child, its one of the only western pictures I like besides those Lord of the Rings movies." said Ranma. As he alighted to a pillar next to her.  
  
"Less chit chat and more ass hauling!" Ukyo shouted back towards them as she passed.  
  
"What climb up Spat-uh-Ukyo's butt?" Shampoo shrugged and leapt for the next pillar. Ranma shook his head and decided to have a little talk with his iinazuke after this was all over with. It did not take long for them to reach the other side. They arrived just as the next and final set of doors was opening. Kun Lao turned at smirking expression towards them as he pushed the final key into place and leapt through the doors as they were just opening.  
  
"SON OF A BITCH!" Ranma cried as he alight to firm ground and threw himself through the doorway. The others were on his heels and suddenly stopped when they beheld the scene before them. It was a labyrinth of staircases reaching upwards, but some of the staircases were upside down. Kun Lao was on one of them, his orientation looked to them as if he were running along the ceiling.  
  
"AIYA! It scene from Jim Henson movie!" Shampoo shouted.  
  
"This one is a piece of cake." Ryoko said as she took to the air. A sudden surge of energy struck her from all direction forcing her back to the ground.  
  
"Hahahahahaha! No cheating allowed, my cute little creature." Kun Lao shouted down at them as he picked up the pace.  
  
"I really hate him." Ryoko groaned as Tenchi helped her to her feet.   
  
"Why didn't you two go with them?" Akane asked the Hentai Twins. She did not want the two sex maniacs anywhere near her Ranma but also did not want him and the others going into the unknown like this without help. The twins looked at her apologetically.  
  
"We would be of little help to them in there." said Pepper.  
  
"Why not?" Nabiki asked.  
  
"You must pass the challenge by your own skills, no cheating allowed, the place is warded against it." Salt explained.  
  
"So, Ryoko can't fly in there." Sasami guessed and looked at the entrance of the shrine with a little foreboding.  
  
"I do hope they are alright." Kasumi said voicing the concerns of all the other girls.  
  
"Our Ranma dearest is with them, and his sister. With them together there is no force that can stop them." Kodachi announced in confidence. Akane and Nabiki were astonished at her using "our Ranma" rather than "my Ranma". That short talk they had with the girl had somehow sunk in. Also, being away from her brother and quite insane father was having a positive effect on normally unstable gymnast.  
  
"Are you sure you could not help?" Ayeka asked the twins. They nodded. For all of their abilities their powers would not have helped in there and they knew it from all the legends they heard. Ayeka looked at Rouge who also nodded in agreement.  
  
"It is all in their hands now." said Belldandy.  
  
"Belldandy!" All eyes turned towards the woods and the origin of the cheerful shout. A young girl who looked no older than Sasami dressed in red and white ran towards the goddess and hugged her tight. Akane took note of the glistening red mallet strapped to her back and pondered where she might get one for herself.  
  
"Skuld, where is Urd?" Belldandy asked and right on cue the platinum haired goddess came out of the trees at a leisurely stroll.  
  
"Right here, we had a hell of a time getting the right programs in place," said Urd. "Peorth says that Yggdrasil is ready in case of any problems."  
  
"Are they in there now?" Skuld asked looking at the shrine entrance with obvious fear.  
  
"Yes, and we must pray that they succeed." Belldandy told her as she smoothed out the younger girl's hair.  
  
"Father gave approval to use a Magical Circle of Warding if necessary." Urd spoke up. She made a gesture and a whirl wind of white energy surrounded her. Urd's ordinary blouse top and slacks changed as the whirl wind dissipated and she emerged wearing a very revealing gown with a flowing cape and leather straps.  
  
"AIYA!" the Hentai Twins screamed and threw themselves at Urd's feet. "Our beloved goddess!"  
  
"Huh!?" everyone else looked at them in surprise.  
  
"Well, if it isn't my two most diligent worshipers. Hello there girls." said Urd with a very Ranma-esque kind of smirk.  
  
"Why am I not surprised." Rouge said shaking her head since she was quite familiar with whom this particular goddess was. The other two she did not know, but this one appeared in the village from time to time mostly on trips to see the girls.  
  
"We're not worthy!" the twins chanted.  
  
"Been teaching mortals how to be hentai again haven't we." Skuld said eying her eldest sister. Urd blushed a bit with embarrassment.  
  
"Uh, well, I just took these two under my wing for a little why. Its permitted." Urd said in her own defense.  
  
"We are lower than the dirty upon which you walk." the twins chanted.  
  
"Now I think you're spreading it on a little too much there girls." Urd told them and the twins stood up looking embarrassed.  
  
"Ok. You guys all lost me about five minutes ago." said Akane. Ayeka nodded in agreement and Washu was just trying to keep herself from falling over laughing.  
  
"Oh, this is my youngest sister Skuld, and my oldest sister Urd. They came to help us." Belldandy said in introduction.  
  
"You guys are goddesses?" Nabiki asked them.  
  
"Goddess second class, limited license, and the little twerp is a third class goddess." Urd told her.  
  
Skuld turned red all over at that remark and one hand slowly reached for her mallet. "I earned enough credits to take the exam for a second class limited license and I am not a twerp!"  
  
"Skuld, Urd, please don't fight right now." Belldandy urged them.  
  
"She started it." Skuld pointed at the platinum haired goddess with a pouty expression.  
  
"Sort of reminds you of somebody, doesn't she?" Nabiki whispered into Akane's ear and nudged her with her elbow.  
  
'Uh, excuse me, but I think you should all know that I'm detecting a rather large energy surge coming from inside the shrine." Washu announced getting everyone's attention.  
  
"Oh my." said Kasumi.  
  
"Looks like they caught up to Kun Lao, there must be one hell of a fight going on in there." Washu said looking at the data on her screen.   
  
Herb and Ryoko slammed into the stone wall at the top of the labyrinth of stairs as a chi blast hit them. Ranma and Ranko faired better resisting the blast as best they could and advanced on the one who threw it. Kun Lao was ready for them. He threw himself at them with his weapons ready. The others reached the top of the stairs in time to see Ranma and Ranko dodge and weave around the chi sorcerer's lightning fast weapons.  
  
"Ranma honey needs us!" Ukyo shouted to Shampoo and they threw themselves into the fight. Tenchi was right behind them with the Master Key ignited and ready. Herb and Ryoko pulled themselves out of the wall with Ryoga and Hikaru's help and soon joined the battle. It was seven against one, the odds against the one winning or having a change normally would have been nil, but in this case the one was a match for all of them easily. Kun Lao cut loose with all the power he had at his disposal while holding back none of it. He found that the body of the Kuno boy was much better suited for combat than the body of that foolish little boy who was too curious for his own good. It served his purposes quite nicely. It was the body he was going to use to pleasure himself on Ranma and Tenchi's women in celebration of his victory when he left this place.  
  
The others were determined to keep that from happening, but none of them could get a good shot at the lightning fast chi sorcerer. Ranma, Ranko, and Herb faired the best against the man as they were the fastest of the group. The others were there just to make sure he did not try to make a break for it. The chamber at the top of the labyrinth of stairs was a long corridor which lead to a set of massive doors. Upon them were engraved ancient runes which let off a faint glow in the gloom. None of them had to be told what lay beyond those doors and they were not going to let the chi sorcerer near them.  
  
"MOKO TAKABIASHA!" the Saotome twins both unleashed chi blasts at Kun Lao at almost point blank range. The energy splashed off a hastily erected shield and was followed up by chi blasts of his own. Ranma and Ranko cried out as they slammed into the wall for the umpteenth time that day since this fight started. Hikaru leapt into the battle with his sword leading the way.  
  
"Today I take vengeance for the death of Sakumi." he said taking a fighting stance in front of the chi sorcerer.  
  
"You mean that gorgeous thing you were trying to take back the day you deprived me of my body," Kun Lao replied with a smirk. "I see she's back, interesting, that Kasumi looks so much like her. I wonder if she is as good in bed as Sakumi was."  
  
"Silence, this nightmare ends now. Fight me!" Hikaru barked. Kun Lao's only response was to fall into a fighting stand of his own with the bokken and dagger at the ready. Herb gestured silently for everyone else to stand back. He understood the importance of a battle for honor and he would brook no interference.  
  
With a cry that shattered the eerie silence of the chamber the two raced towards one another. Metal clashed with chi enhanced wood throwing sparks everywhere. Kun Lao threw a strike at Hikaru's mid section with his dagger but found his way blocked by the Kuno clan sword. Several more exchanges followed throwing sparks everywhere as the two fighters chased each other around in the gloom. It appeared to everyone that both Kun Lao and Hikaru were nearly evenly matched when it came to sword skills.  
  
"You are as good as I remember." Kun Lao said as they stopped for a sort breather in the middle of the fight.  
  
"As are you." said Hikaru.  
  
The break did not last long before the two were at it again. This time they were two blurs moving so fast that only Ranma, Ranko, and Herb could keep track of them. Chi attacks were involved in this stage of fighting so Herb and the others stood well back while still guarding the door.  
  
"I tire of this game, it is time we finished this." said Kun Lao. His dagger flared and it launched a series of bright balls of energy that all ranged in on Hikaru with lightning speed. The samurai deflected all of them and swung his sword with a loud shout.  
  
"Dragon Fire!" A blast of blame shot from the weapon. Kun Lao raised his hands and held it back with his dagger and bokken. He leapt through the remaining fragments of the chi blast and unleashed a series of crimson lightning attacks from his dagger.  
  
"You knew, I noticed that most of his chi attacks come from that dagger." Ranko whispered into Ranma's ear. He looked at her and whispered back into her ear.  
  
"You noticed that too." She nodded.  
  
"This is fight of honor, we can't interfere." he told her. Ranko nodded, knowing all they could do is bide their time.  
  
"Claws of the Dragon!" Hikaru slashed releasing the chi attack that had killed Kun Lao so many centuries ago. The chi sorcerer blocked with his dagger and leapt over the samurai slicing with his bokken as he did. Hikaru could not bring his blade up fast enough to deflect the blow so he had to dive down to keep from loosing his head to the strike. The chi sorcerer alighted to the floor as the samurai was climbing to his feet. It was clear that Kuno Hikaru was starting to tire quickly.  
  
"Look at you, you can barely stand now." Kun Lao told him with a smirk. "It is time to give it up. I have beaten you." The samurai did not respond, he raised his sword before him and focused his thoughts. Hikaru reached deep within himself for the extra energy he knew had to be there, he grabbed for it and pulled it free from its hiding place. Kun Lao could feel a sudden surge of energy inside the samurai surface. A battle aura surrounded the samurai as he opened his eyes and stared with a menacing gaze at the chi sorcerer.  
  
"You took the life of the woman I love, nearly too my own life," he said. "You defiled so many innocent young women to satisfy your base lusts regardless of their age. You killed a two young men so you could use their forms to perform your vile acts. For these things I commend you to pits of hell!"  
  
He swung his sword in an arch towards Kun Lao and at the top of his lungs he screamed at scream that not so much heard but also felt. "DRAGONSONG!" Blinding light engulfed the corridor and a roar like a thousand lions deafened everyone who was witness to the immense blast. Kun Lao called upon all of his powers to block the incoming maelstrom but his defenses withered within seconds. The final wall fell and he was hit by the intense energy and heat of the blast. His wailing cries could be heard over the roar of the chi blast itself for a moment until they finally ceased.  
  
Ranma climbed to his feet. He did not know how long he was out or if he had been out. The roar of the Dragonsong was just fading away so he guessed it had not been too long. Shampoo and Ukyo were over by Hikaru who was now laying face down on the floor. Shampoo checked for his pulse quickly and signaled Ranma that he was alright. The pigtailed boy sighed with relief and quickly went about making sure everyone else was alright. He saw Tenchi helping Ryoko climb out of a whole her body made in the wall, and elsewhere he witness his "sister" leaning wearily against Ryoga's shoulder. Herb sat on the floor next to Ryoga and Ranko shaking his head to clear the cobwebs. Seeing that his friends were alright Ranma inspected Kuno Hikaru's unfortunate victim.  
  
The chi sorcerer was sprawled out on the floor looking like a crispy critter. The stones on the floor around his body were partially melted by intensity of the Dragonsong's heat. The pigtailed martial artist's jaw nearly made a dent in the floor when he saw Kun Lao's chest, former the chest of Kuno Tatawaki, rise and fall.  
  
"After all that he's still alive. Creep's tougher than Happosai." he thought out loud.  
  
"Don't tell me that asshole lived through that, sugar." said Ukyo seeing the look on Ranma's face.  
  
He laughed. "I guess hentai are like cockroaches. They live through anything."  
  
"So, it over?" Shampoo asked as she walked over to them.  
  
"I guess so, but what do we do with this bone head?" Ranma shrugged and looked back down at the unconscious chi sorcerer who made their lives a living nightmare for several weeks now.  
  
"Toss him in the nearest black hole." Ryoko groused as she leaned against Tenchi for support. Her other hand not already wrapped around her love was holding her side. A small trickle of blood could be seen peeking out from between her fingers.  
  
"Maybe Little Washu can come up with something to seal him up in, something that can never be opened again." Tenchi offered.  
  
"At least the worst is finally over." said Ryoga.   
  
Outside in the clearing near the shrine two immortals sat before different computer consoles. One was a divine entity while the other was a former goddess. Both were monitoring the situation deep within the labyrinth below the shrine. A great sigh of relief wash over everyone when it was discovered that Kun Lao was finally immobilized that everyone appeared to be alright. A little worse for wear but alright none the less. The computer console Skuld, goddess of the future, sat at was tied into Yggdrasil and it displayed data that Washu's own terminal could not detect. When the warning messages began popping up she nearly jumped out of her skin.  
  
"Oh no!"  
  
"What is it?" Urd asked her, looking over the young goddess' shoulder.  
  
"That massive discharge of energy triggered a chain reaction in the subroutines connected to the Magical Circle of Warding that holds the prison doors closed." Skuld replied, her voice sounding very troubled.  
  
"Oh shit, the final support subroutines are failing," Urd gasped in horror as she read the streaming data. "the circle is loosing power!"  
  
"What does that mean?" Nabiki asked, her usual cool expression was failing her at the moment.  
  
"It means that Takhisis is about to be set free." Skuld told her. Gasps of shock went through the group. The little goddess' hands flew over the console as she tried desperately in vain to reconstruct the support code framework that reinforced the seal to Takhisis' chamber. Every attempt failed, and she was forced to watch in horror as segments of the circle's code began to loose power and fade out of existence.  
  
Washu pushed through the group gathered around Skuld's terminal and snatched Ryu-Ohki off Sasami's head. "Contact Ryoko, tell her to get everyone the hell out of there, NOW!" she ordered. Ryu-Ohki did not have to respond, she closed her eyes and focused all of her will into awakening the link she shared with Ryoko. Deep beneath the Earth the former space pirate began to breath easier as her enhanced healing factor repaired most of her more major injuries. She was about to turn to Tenchi and say something when she felt the Cabbit's mind literally slam into her own. The message was loud and clear. Ryoko looked towards the doors and gasped in horror.  
  
"We gotta get out of here and fast." she said.  
  
"What wrong, we win, no?" asked Shampoo, a little confused.  
  
In answer to that question a sound like a clap of thunder shot through the corridor followed by a brief but intense burst of light. Tenchi shielded his eyes and looked towards the doors. He gasped as he witnessed a complex pattern of pictograms and strange runes flare to life and sudden begin to fizzle out as if burning itself out from its intense illumination. The whole thing took less than a few seconds before the pattern was gone. There was silence for a moment after. Everyone looked at the now unprotected doors to the inner chamber of the shrine with apprehension. Ranma and Ranko's danger sense went off like a Christmas tree in that moment. They both moved to quickly usher their friends towards the only exit when the doors suddenly blow open with a force so strong they broke free of their hinges and fell to the floor in pieces. A wave of intense, pure evil washed over everyone in the corridor frightening all of the to their very core.  
  
"Free!" Came a feminine voice from the darkness. A voice filled with such a pure essence of evil that it made the hairs on the backs of everyone's heads stand up on end.  
  
"Finally free, for the first time in centuries!"  
  
"FREE!" Five sets of eyes appeared in the darkness beyond the doorway. Eyes that were filled with pure, unadulterated hate.  
  
"RUN!" Herb cried. He threw Hikaru's still unconscious form over his shoulder and made for the exit. The others were right behind him when the first shockwave hit. The floor beneath them bucked and groaned and then gave way altogether before they could reach the safety of the stairway labyrinth.  
  
"FOOLISH MORTALS, YOU CANNOT ESCAPE ME!" came a stern decree behind them. Ranma made the mistake of turning around to see what they were up against and suddenly wished he had not. What came lumbering out of the darkness was a thing out of a madman's nightmare. It was a dragon, but it was unlike any dragon he had ever seen. This dragon had five heads, each a different color, each with its own glowing malevolent eyes. The intensity of the creature's immense power was so great it was almost a physical sensation. He had never seen a creature radiating such concentrated power before in his entire life.  
  
"We're fucking toast." he realized out loud.  
  
The blue head of the dragon reared back and opened its great fanged maw. A ball of energy formed between its jagged fangs and with a forward thrash of its neck a bolt of lightning shot forth. The strike, millions of times stronger than any lightning bolt ever found in nature, shattered the stone wall next to the only exit causing a cave in. The group looked at the covered hole in shock and turned towards the towering beast. Their hearts pounded in their chest, and for the first time many of them were beginning to feel true terror.  
  
"I SHALL CONSUME THIS WORLD AND COUNTLESS OTHERS IN THE FLAMES OF MY VENGENCE! I SHALL MAKE THE PUNY KAMI OF THIS PLAINE BOW AND COWER BEFORE ME AS I REND AND TEAR THE FABRIC OF REALITY ASUNDER. THIS WORLD SHALL FEEL MY FURY, STARTING WITH YOU!" all five heads turned towards the group with hunger in their menacing eyes. In that moment the group made a decision. Their only way out was gone, they were certain they could never defeat this monster, thus their only option was simple.  
  
"If I am to die, I shall die with honor." said Herb as he gently laid Hikaru on the ground and drew his sword.  
  
"Bring it on you bitch!" Ukyo cried, a bit wild eyed as she brandished her baker's peel.  
  
Shampoo stood her ground and summoned her twin bonbori. "Amazon womans no fear death!"  
  
"Give me your best shot you five headed freak!" Ryoko challenge summoning her light sword and conjuring a shield around herself.  
  
"I stand with my cousin!" said Tenchi, a determined expression on his face as he ignited the Master Key. He fell into a fighting stance that would have made his grandfather proud if he had been there to witness it.  
  
"Saotome's never lay down and die!" Ranma shouted, falling into a fighting stance and reached deep within himself to find his center and call up whatever reserves of chi he hoped was there.  
  
"I stand beside my brother!" Ranko declared falling in next to Ranma. The pigtailed boy was never more proud of his accidental sister than right at that moment. He was not surprise to see Ryoga fall in next to her brandishing his umbrella and a handful of bandannas.  
  
"And I stand with the woman I love." he declared. Ranko looked at him with a sudden blush on her face. The two, the redhead and the Lost Boy, reached for each other's hands while keeping their eyes on the thing before them that was about to extinguish their lives.  
  
"Eager to die I see, then I shall proceed to end your pitiful existence." said Takhisis. All five heads reared back opening their massive jaws. Five spheres of intense energy stronger than anything any one of them had ever seen or felt before grew there in the gaping maw of each head. Each neck rapidly swung forward to strike, lightning, flame, poison gas, acid, and pure cosmic energy shot forth and raced towards the hapless group. Shampoo grabbed Ranma's hand, he pulled her into his arms and they closed their eyes and waited for death to take them. The wall of death racing at them at incredible speed seemed to take forever.  
  
"No, its free and they can't get out!" Skuld cried out in horror as she watched the data stream in. She closed her eyes, she did not want to see the moment of their death even it was represented as sensor data. A sharp gasp from Washu drew her attention. The redheaded genius stared at her terminal with shocked wonder.  
  
"It can't be, it just can't be." she said in a quiet but awed voice.  
  
"W-W-What can't be?" Akane asked, she was standing with Nabiki who cried on her shoulder.  
  
"There are two of them now." she looked up at them.  
  
"Two of them what?" Ayeka demanded.  
  
A smile crept across Washu's face as she turned her computer around to show them. They all gasped at what they saw on the screen. Most of them did not what it was they were looking at, but the three girls from Okayama knew precisely what the wave form patterns being displayed represented.  
  
"Oh my word!" was all Mihoshi could say.  
  
Ranma and Shampoo clenched their eyes and held one another close as the roar of the wall of death neared them. They could feel the incredibly intense heat of the flames and energy as it approached at the speed of the freight train. Suddenly, Ranma felt a sensation he had never experienced before. It was a feeling of immense exhilaration, a refreshing feeling as if his entire body was suddenly purged of its fatigue and the pain of his countless wounds. A strength beyond anything he had ever felt flush through him with the force of a flash flood. He felt invincible. Is this what death feels like?, he wondered.  
  
"A-A-Airen?" he heard Shampoo say questioningly in an awed voice.  
  
Tentatively he opened his eyes in time to see the wall of death finally reach them, and then slam into an intense force bubble that had suddenly appeared in front of them out of nowhere. Ranma felt an intense feeling of strain, as if he could feel the shield trying to resist the incredible power of the blast. It was at that moment he noticed them, three bright glowing forms hung in the air before him in a delta pattern. The Wings of the Light Hawk. Shampoo looked at her love with surprise and was not sure what to make of the strange glowing blades that hung in front of him or the luminous symbol on his forehead. She noticed something similar at Tenchi's head as he stood his ground, his face showed great strain like Ranma's as if they were willing the shield that suddenly appeared to stay up and spare them.  
  
The maelstrom ended and both Juraian Princes sighed with relief, and staggered a bit as a wave of weakness suddenly hit them. The twin set of Light Hawk Wings they both generated faded out as did the shield. At the far end of the corridor the great beast looked on in stunned silence. It was a long time before she finally spoke.  
  
"Mortals with the power to cast the Light Hawk Wings, how can this be?"  
  
"Ranma honey, that was-was-wow." said a stunned Ukyo.  
  
Herb looked towards the ceiling of the corridor and said, "The Kami are certainly watching over us this day."  
  
"I don't think I can do that a second time." Ranma groaned as the strength he felt earlier left his body. Shampoo dropped her weapons to catch him as he suddenly fell backwards. A few feet away Ryoko was doing a similar thing with Tenchi.  
  
"They spent themselves deflecting that first attack," Ranko observed. "But what if she does that again?"  
  
"Very interesting, let us see how powerful you mortal truly are!" Takhisis bellowed and once again the volley was being charged again.  
  
Desperation was the mother of invention, thus Ryoga was surprisingly the one to take the initiative. Focusing his chi in his leg muscles he leapt high to the ceiling of the corridor and stretched out with his finger. "Bakusai Tenketsu!" The stone exploded setting off a chain reaction that ran along the entire corridor. A cloud of debris fell around the great dragon and the group as the earth continued to shatter apart above them. Takhisis lost concentration on building her next attack as the weight of tons of rock and soil fell down upon her. The others faired much better. Adrenaline ruled the day as they moved with the desperate hope that their asses had just fallen out of the frying pan. Tons of rock and soil fell down around the group as they leapt from one falling boulder to the next until the rays of the sun above them could be seen through the rain of soil falling down around them.  
  
On the surface everyone screamed and clutched one another as the ground in the distance began to literally fall away. A huge portions of the forest fell as the entire subterranean labyrinth caved in upon itself. It would be several minutes before the tremors finally ended. A cloud of just hung in the air like fog obscuring their view of their surroundings. Finally, out of the haze limped six human figures. One looked as if he was carrying another over his shoulder. The girls screamed in delight as their loved ones came into view. Akane and Nabiki threw themselves at Ranma and nearly bowled him over. The two Tendo sisters smothered his dirty face with kisses as they both gave him a glomp rivaling Shampoo's own. When they finally let him up Ranma was greeted by Kodachi's tear streaked face. Man, I never noticed before but Kodachi is kinda cute when she ain't acting all nuts., he realized with a shock. Without saying a word Ranma pulled her into his arms. The Black Rose of St. Hebedeke High cried on his shoulder as she held him as if at any moment he would be torn away from her grasp.  
  
Ayeka, Mihoshi, Washu, and Sasami surrounded an exhausted Tenchi who sat on the ground nearby. Ryu-Ohki, in her child-like form, hugged him tightly meowing up a storm as the girls all smothered him with affectionate words and kisses. Tenchi tried his best to wrap his arms around all of his girls and hold them as close as he could. A few moments ago he never imagined that he would ever be able to see them all again, but here he was sitting on the ground with around him. Tears fell free from his eyes as he felt the fully realized love he had for all of them shine from his heart more intensely than he had ever felt before. The girls all cried, even Washu, and as usual Mihoshi could have filled several buckets.  
  
Rouge could only watch with a smile on her face as the twins covered Prince Herb from head to toe with affectionate kisses. She did not even frown once when the girls would "frequently" grope certain areas. The young Musk Prince's head swam with alien sensation he had never experienced before. He drank up the intoxicating aroma of sweet smell from the two human girls. It was almost overwhelming his hyper-sensitive sense of smell. He wondered what would his two subordinates think if he brought two mates back home with him to the royal palace near Josenkyo.  
  
Hikaru was coming to finally. His blurry vision focused on a heavenly face looking down upon him. With a weak hand he reached up and touched Kasumi's tear streaked face. She grasped his hand and kissed his fingers lovingly. She decided to throw proper behavior and decorum out the door as she threw herself on top of him and began kissing him with a ferocious intensity.  
  
"Did you mean what you said?" Ranko asked Ryoga as they sat together looking into one another's eyes. The Lost Boy looked a bit wild eyed for a moment and a slight trickle of blood flowed free from his nose, but he still managed to nod his head. The redheaded martial artist drew him into her arms and laid his head on her shoulder. They sat their holding each other just enjoying being close to one another. It did not matter to Ryoga anymore that Ranko reminded him of Ranma. He had been reluctant to even try anything with her at first because of that, but in that split second of near death he knew deep down what he really felt for his former arch-rival's twin sister.  
  
Belldandy wiped the tears from her eyes as she watched the groups of mortals take comfort from one another after such a traumatizing situation. The love she could feel coming from them was like sweet honey to a goddess. It was that which gives goddesses their power. She noticed Urd wiping away a few stray tears before immediately changing her expression being completely unwilling to be caught showing any sappy teary eyed emotions. Skuld was in tears as she tried to look at her computer screen. The tears blurred her vision for a moment until she brushed them away. She looked at the streaming data and her eyes went wide.  
  
"OH SHIT!"  
  
"Oh my, Skuld!" Belldandy gasped in shock at her little sister's language. She would have to speak to Urd about cursing in her presence so often.  
  
"We'd better get out of here fast!" the little goddess cried as she closed her terminal and drew out her mallet. It was at that moment the ground began to shake. Everyone looked around in surprise, a few of the girls on both Ranma and Tenchi's side let out screams of fright.  
  
"Aw shit, nothing ain't ever easy." Ranma spat, climbing to his feet as the massive form of the great evil goddess began to rise out of the destruction. The massive multi-headed dragon roared and stretched it wings as it finally pulled itself free from the earth.  
  
"Holy fucking shit!" Nabiki cried seeing the thing tower over them.  
  
"I WILL ENJOY HEARING YOUR SCREAMS AS I KILL YOU ALL ONE BY ONE!" the dark goddess bellowed in rage.  
  
"Kasumi, no!" Hikaru's cry drew their eyes and they watched in shock at the eldest Tendo sister walked towards the hulking beast with a expression of intense determination, and it possibly be smug pride on her delicate face?  
  
"I will not let you harm my beloved family and friends, Takhisis, Lady of Darkness, harbinger of pain and death." she said, proud strength and a determined will evident in her soft voice.  
  
"What is this?" the dark goddess peered down at the tiny human girl and looked at her with all its eyes. For a moment the thing thought it recognized this human from somewhere. It was in the back of her mind and the evil goddess had a hard time getting to clear out of her thoughts.  
  
"I have seen you before." the thing mused.  
  
Kasumi closed her eyes and held her hands together before her as if in prayer. Suddenly, the dragon saw a vision, a memory it wished to never see again. All the hosts of heaven surrounded her, none of them proved to be strong enough to stop her, and just as she was about to begin laying waste to them two figures appeared out the devastation at her feet. One was a tall human woman wearing a leather outfit that almost wasn't hanging off her body and her nearly inhumanly proportioned attributes. The other looked to be the height of a child with fiery red hair that spread out over her face like a great mane and hung down to the middle of her back. Her endowments were visible but minuscule compared to her companion's. Despite her small size however, the great goddess could feel immense power housed without waiting for a change to finally come forth. Little did she the appearance of this tiny human would spell her doom. Now as she looked upon this beautiful human the goddess could see into her soul, and smiling back at her from within was that same smirking face framed with fiery red hair.  
  
"NO! IT CANNOT BE!" she wailed.  
  
From Kasumi's lips came a chant it knew so well and dreaded to ever hear again. "Darkness beyond twilight, crimson beyond blood that flows."  
  
"HOW CAN YOU BE HER, IT IS NOT POSSIBLE!"  
  
"Buried in the flow of time..."  
  
"I WON'T LET YOU!" the heads came to bare against her tiny form, their head opening to prepare a volley.  
  
"In thy great name, I pledge myself to darkness."  
  
Rouge's eyes went wide with shock, she ran forward, summoned a dagger and threw it at the creature. The blade flew on its course clean and sure hitting one of the eyes of the green head. "By the gods! Distract her, let Kasumi finish her chant or we all die! Do you hear me, NOW!"  
  
Everyone look around at each other. With saying a word multiple battle auras sprang to life. A dozen chi blasts ranged in on the dragon's heads slamming into her with immense force. They were not nearly enough to harm her but they were enough to distract her being able to conjure a spell or prepare her breath weapons.  
  
"All the fools who stand in our way shall be destroyed..."  
  
"I AM TAKHISIS, GODDESS OF WAR AND CHAOS! YOU CAN NEVER DEFEAT ME!" the dragon cried out in rage and fear.  
  
An aura of power surrounded Kasumi's delicate form, a breeze rose from beneath her kicking up the edge of her dress and tossing about her hair. Waves of power emanated from her. Everyone sensitive to such energy could feel it as if the ground itself were vibrating with all the energy that was being summoned. They did not know what was going to happen, they just knew when it did it was going to be huge.  
  
"...by the power you and I posses!"  
  
"TAKE COVER!!!" Rouge screamed and threw herself to the ground. Everyone did as they were told. Ranma grabbed Akane and Nabiki and shielded them with his own body. Ryoko and Ayeka summoned shields over Sasami and Mihoshi while Washu called up a shield on her terminal.  
  
The eldest Tendo sister threw her hands toward the great beast and her final cry escaped her lips before the world erupted in white light and a roar louder than a thousand hurricanes.  
  
"DRAGON SLAVE!"  
  
Above the ear splitting din the cry of the great goddess could be heard as she screamed in agony. Soon the cry was lost in the howl of mystical energies that literally obliterated everything within sight. Miles away villagers in towns near the reason witnessed a great glowing sphere of superheated gas and energy rise out of the forest. Orbital satellites belonging to the Strategic Air Command sent streams of data down to Earth and in NORAD headquarters technicians ran around as the entire war room was thrown into chaos. The seismic vibrations from the blast could be felt as far away as Australia, California, and Moscow, Russia. The light was visible to ships far out at sea for thousands of miles around the Japanese islands. Military forces all throughout the Asia/Pacific region suddenly went on full alert, and for the first time since the Cuban Missile Crisis the Strategic Air Command in the United States went to DEFCON-2.  
  
The light and smoke cleared finally from the field of battle. Everyone climbed back to their feet and looked around and were amazed at the amount of destruction they could see. The forest was literally obliterated, not a sign of a tree could be seen for miles around. Their attention focused on ground zero and they could see Kasumi still standing where she had been with her hands stretched out before her. She began to fall backwards, but Hikaru reached her moving with a speed he never knew he could summon in his legs. Where the great goddess Takhisis once stood was a massive, blackened crater that poured thick smoke into the air.  
  
Kasumi's eyes were closed when Hikaru lowered her to the ground in a sitting position and he wrapped his arms around her protectively. Everyone gathered around and waited for her to recover. Slowly her eyes opened. She looked at everyone and then peered into the depths of the great crater spread out before her.  
  
"Oh my, did I do that?"  
  
The mass face falter registered 8.0 on the Rictor Scale.   
  
In the weeks ahead special operatives with the Juraian government worked with their counterparts in the United Nations to quietly settle things down around the globe. Soon the military forces stood down from alert, the United States' nuclear arsenal was put back to sleep, and life for two young princes sort of finally went back to normal. They stood looking up at the entrance to the grounds of Nerima University and wondered how in the hell they survived long enough to get this far.  
  
"Man, I never thought I'd ever see this day happen." said Ranma, looking over at his cousin.  
  
"Well, everything worked out in the end. Grandpa really came through for us getting things quieted down." replied Tenchi.  
  
"Yeah, sugar, it was freaking seeing US military vehicles driving through Tokyo," Ukyo laughed. "It reminded me of those boring WWII films they used to show us in class at Furinken."  
  
Nabiki rolled her eyes. "I never want to hear the name of that place again for as long as I live."  
  
"I could have it bulldozed over if you like, my family does own the land its built on." offered Kodachi, a sane smile on her face.  
  
The middle Tendo sister shook her head. "No, if we did that your father would have nothing else to do with himself, and he'd probably spend his time over at our house."  
  
"That would dreadful, wouldn't it." the former Black Rose gasped and covered her mouth with her hand.  
  
"So, this is what Earthlings consider a place of higher learning, eh?" Washu observed, trying not to sound too bored.  
  
"I think it looks lovely." Ayeka said with a smile.  
  
"You'd better not let those coeds get too close, the hussies." Ryoko said eying every female who walked by as a possible rival for her Tenchi.  
  
"Hey, that's my line." Ayeka groused in annoyance.  
  
"Maybe I can go here one day and take some cooking classes." Sasami spoke up in an enthusiastic tone.  
  
"You mean maybe you can teach here one day. Classes in cooking is something you don't need." Ranko told her with a smile.  
  
"I'm just amazed I didn't get lost getting here." Ryoga said with a surprised look on his face.  
  
Washu smirked knowingly. "That's because I implanted a micro- miniaturized GPS guidance system in your cerebral cortex."  
  
"When that happen?" Shampoo asked.  
  
"Like blond for brains does over here, bandanna boy wandered into my lab a few days ago somehow." Washu replied pointing to both Ryoga and Mihoshi.  
  
"New guinea pig, huh?" Ryoko smirked and gave her mom a friendly elbow prod.  
  
"No, I wanted to help him with his directional problem," the diminutive scientist said. "And, besides, he does have a cute butt."  
  
"WASHU!" Ayeka, Ranko, and Tenchi all shouted at the same time.  
  
"I was joking, geeze get your minds out of the gutter," Washu groaned and rolled her eyes. "As if any man in this universe could take me away from my Tenchi." She immediately grew to full adult size and glomped Tenchi. The t-shirt she was wearing almost tore itself apart straining against the sudden increase of chest size. Actually, excessive increase of chest size.  
  
THUD! Ranko looked down at her boyfriend and shook her head at the quivering mass of terminal nose bleed. "We are going to have to work on that shyness of yours." she said.  
  
"I knew a good hotel nearby that might help." Washu offered.  
  
"Miss Washu!" Ayeka gasped.  
  
Ranko blushed from head to two and her face nearly matched the color of her hair. "Ah to be a virgin again." Ryoko sighed looking at the girl and winking.  
  
"So, where did Hikaru and Kasumi go on their honeymoon?" Sasami asked Akane.  
  
"Hawaii, I wish them the best of luck." she replied.  
  
"Who knew she was able to do something like 'that'." said Ranma.  
  
Akane thumped him on the chest. "I didn't mean that baka. I meant I wished them the best of luck because they can finally be married like they were meant to be."  
  
"Oh." he said in realization.  
  
"Well, sugar, this is where we girls not going to school say goodbye until later." said Ukyo as they reached the gates to the immediate college campus grounds. Everyone exchanged hugs and kisses all around before the two groups stepped back to look at each other for a moment.  
  
"Do us proud Lord Tenchi." Ayeka cooed.  
  
"Yeah, like do really good, and watch out for those coeds." Ryoko told him.  
  
Sasami hopped up and down excited and said, "I'll cook up a great celebration dinner tonight."  
  
"Shampoo think of Ranma when she working." the young Amazon matriarch said with a smile.  
  
"Come on sugar, we gotta open soon or we'll miss the early rush." Ukyo urged her. The Amazon blew a final kiss to her beloved before racing off with the chef to their join ramen and okonomiyaki shop. The Ucchan and Sham-chan's Nekohauten.  
  
"Remember, if you get any tough homework you all know where to find me." said Washu.  
  
"Ok, we'd better hurry or we'll miss our first class." said Nabiki as she checked her watch.  
  
"Yeah, that's right, bye everyone we'll see yeah." said Ranma as he turned and headed towards the campus. He suddenly felt a tug on his pants leg and immediately thought it might be Sasami wanting a goodbye hug. He turned around, and seeing nothing there he looked down.  
  
"MMMIIIIYYYAAAA!!!!"  
  
"AAAAHHHHH!!!!! DON'T DO THAT!!!" the pigtailed martial artist screamed from the top of the lamp post he leapt up on. Everyone laughed at the hilariousness of it all and eventually Ranma, Nabiki, Akane, and Tenchi did finally make it to class on time.   
  
Somewhere far far away from the coast of Japan a figure sat in a small sail boat. Their features were obscured by a black cloak they wore over their head. The figure looked up at the horizon for a moment, peered at a strange apparatus called a GPS navigation system, and then back down at the thing that drew most of its attention. It was a map, a map of the northern polar arctic region. An area of the map was circled in red and navigational coordinates were clearly marked. Sitting next to the map was a notebook upon which the word Seele was written in Raman characters.  
  
The figure threw back their hood to reveal a younger man sporting a pair of glasses and the beginnings of a mustache. He looked down at the map again, check the GPS to make sure he was on the right course and smiled an evil grin. From his pocket he pulled out a card. On it was his picture. It was an identification card for the Kyoto Institute of Scientific Research. The name on the card read Ikari Gendo.  
  
"Thank you so much Mr. Ikari," the man said with a decidedly condescending tone. "I will achieve my goal one way or another, one way or another. And then, then, we shall meet again Tenchi and Ranma." Kun Lao put the photo ID of his new host back into his pocket. Took a bearing on his heading again and laughed heartily as the edge of the northern ice cap began to appear on the edge of the horizon.   
  
The End is Only the Beginning...  
  
Coming Soon...  
  
Family Reunion OAV!!!! If Ranma and Tenchi thought their iinazuke issues were over and they could marry the girls they loved in peace they could never be more wrong. More of Ranma's iinazuke crawl out of the wood work and several girls from many of the great houses of Jurai show up seeking out Tenchi! Its iinazuke hell!!! The wedding will be even more insane than the failed one had been in the manga, but don't be down this story has a happy ending.  
  
ALSO!!!  
  
Family Reunion 3 Not a continuation of the original story but a unique retelling of the tale. Kawaii Tenchi and Kawaii Sasami learn from their mother that she has a sister she hasn't spoken to in years because of a dispute they had over the man she married. It is now years later and the two women have settled their differences and want their families to come together. There will also be a tie in with Onegai Teacher and Ah! My Goddess in this as well. A Magical Girl Pretty Sammy OAV/Ranma ½ crossover.  
  
Moko Takabisha Bakusai Tenketsu Nyanchiczu Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken Umisenken Yamasenken Joketsuzoku Hiryu Shoten Ha 


End file.
